Training Wheels
by Starlight841
Summary: Jamie Gilmore was the most independent four year old on the planet. He didn’t need a Daddy like all the other kids. Rogan.
1. Big Boys Don't Cry

Okay so….I started another story. / Haha. I know I probably shouldn't have but I just couldn't help it. For months – months this has been haunting me. Yes, it's cliché. I know this, but I've always wanted to write one. Haha. I hope you guys enjoy! Please review! You might have some questions after this chapter so don't be afraid to ask. Every thing will be explained fully in time. And don't worry it IS a Rogan.

**Summary: **Jamie Gilmore was the most independent four year old on the planet. He didn't need a Daddy like all the other kids. Rogan.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls.

**Chapter One**

**Big Boys Don't Cry **

He had finally done it. He had finally mastered the perfect kick - that one kick of his legs at just the right the time that would propel him so high in the air that he would soar past every single kid on the playground. And he had done it all on his own, without help from anyone. If he could just kick a little harder, maybe he could send himself all the way over the bar at the top of the swing set. That was his new goal.

He would get over that bar one day and he would do it all by himself. He didn't need any help. For as long as he could remember he'd been swinging all by himself. He didn't need anyone to push him – not like all the other kids.

He would never need someone to push him at anything. Jamie Gilmore was the most independent four year old that ever existed. After years of watching his friends play catch with their Dads, he had learned to throw a ball really far all by himself. He had learned how to hold a bat by watching from afar. The next thing he was going to do was take his training wheels off. Peter was learning to take his off now and he didn't want to be the only person in pre-school who still had training wheels.

He was going to do it all by himself.

"Don't let go, Daddy!" he heard his best friend yell from the sidewalk. Mr. Jones was hanging on to the back of his bicycle, promising the little boy that he wasn't going to let go until he said so.

The moment Peter gave the word his father let of the bike and watched as his son pedaled down the trail with a giddy smile on his face.

"Look, Dad!" He yelled. "I'm doing it!"

"You sure are, kiddo." Mr. Jones said, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling.

Jamie studied Peter as he speed down the bike path, passed the swing set. That didn't look hard. He could do that. All he had to do was exactly what he did now – just without the training wheels. It wouldn't be hard at all.

"Watch this, Daddy!" Peter called again as he turned the handles on his bike, wobbling just a bit before regaining his balance. He had done what he set out to do, turning on the path and coming around the other side of the swing set.

"You're a natural, Buddy. Just be careful." Mr. Jones called. Jamie whipped his head to the right, his eyes landing on a brunette woman sitting on a bench, a book opened in her lap.

"Mommy!" Jamie called, gaining her attention instantly.

"Yes, baby?"

"Look how high I am!" he yelled. His mother smiled briefly.

"I see. Don't hurt yourself." She warned before turning back to her book.

Jamie bit his lip and launched himself off the swing so that he was soaring through mid air for a mere second. Too wrapped up in the excitement, he didn't see his mother practically jump out of her seat in panic. He just landed on his feet and made his way over with a smile on his face.

"I'm ready to go home now!" He said, pulling on her hand and dragging her off the bench.

"Oh…okay." She said with just enough time to grab her purse and her book. "Bye Tom! Bye Peter! We'll see you tomorrow." Jamie was practically running to the car and tugging on her arm. He wanted to get home and get those wheels off his bike.

He didn't realize it would be such a difficult task.

He tried breaking them off, that didn't work. Upon further inspection he noticed that they were screwed onto the bicycle. He ran out of the garage and upstairs to his bedroom, passing his mother in the kitchen. She hadn't gotten off the phone with his grandmother since the second they walked in the door.

Once he entered his room, he went straight for his toolbox, digging through the supplies to find his plastic screwdriver right where he left it. He smiled as he lifted the tool to his face. Stuffing it in his pocket on the way, he raced back down the stairs into the garage. But alas, the plastic screwdriver was much too large to unscrew the wheels from his bike.

He bit his lip and with a sigh and a dramatic roll of his eyes he, once again, peeled himself from the garage floor. He walked into the kitchen, creeping up to his mother and apprehensively tugging on her pants. She laughed over the phone and looked down, ruffling his brown hair and hugging him to her leg for a moment.

"Well the Stars Hollow Bid-A-Basket festival can live without me once again. Besides it's just nor fair, who ever bids on my basket would be bidding for two. After all Jamie comes as part of the deal."

"Mommy!" Jamie prodded, causing his mother to interrupt his grandmother and turn to him.

"Hold on, Mom." She looked down at Jamie and wiped a smudge off of his right cheek. "What sweetie?"

"Can you take the training wheels off my bike?"

"I'll take them off now but you're going to have to wait until I'm done talking to Grandma for me to help you ride, okay?"

She should have known better than to trust his eager nod.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to come back for the festival?" Lorelai asked her daughter. Rory rolled her eyes one more time as she scrubbed the oil from her son's bicycle off of her hands. 

"Yes I'm sure, Mother." Rory answered as she shut off the water running from the kitchen sink and wiped her hands dry, all the while balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder.

"But I think you should come!"

"Why?" Rory asked, throwing the towel aside and leaning against the kitchen counter. "Why are you so set on making me come to the festival this year? I haven't participated in that since the Jess/Dean fiasco of 2001 for good reason. I never want that to happen again."

"Because I…"

"Please don't say what I think you're going to say, Mom." Rory said, her head falling in her hands.

"There's this guy that I told to bid on your - "

"Why would you do that?" Rory asked. "I'm perfectly capable of finding a man to date all on my own. I don't need my mother to set me up. Do you know how pathetic that is? I can't believe you would pull a Miss Patty!" Lorelai gasped in mock offense.

"I did not pull a Miss Patty!" She defended. "I'm worried about you, Hun. It's been five years since you've seen a man. It's been five years since you've had sex."

"That's none of your business! I have a four-year-old son to worry about, all right? He's the only man I need in my life right now." Rory said. "I'd think you of all people would understand that. You didn't date when I was that age."

"I didn't have time to date, kiddo." Lorelai said. "I worked every waking hour of the day. I didn't have the job you do. I wasn't making the money where I had leisure time to go out. But you do. You should take advantage of that."

"I'd rather be spending that time with my son."

"Rory, Jamie is growing up." Lorelai said softly. "He's not a baby anymore. He's reaching that age where he's going to want to throw a baseball around and go camping and fishing…You don't do that kind of stuff. He needs a father."

"He has Luke." Rory said. "And Dad. He has all the men he needs in his life."

"Luke and your father are getting old Rory. Sure they can do some of that stuff now but there's going to come a time pretty soon where some of that stuff is going to take a lot out of them. Jamie needs someone young and sprightly to keep up with him. If he's anything like - "

"Don't go there…"

" - Logan than he's going to an athlete."

"I said not to go there!" Rory yelled near tears. "You can try and get me to date all you want. You can tell me how I'm a horrible mother who knows nothing about raising a little boy but don't ever mention his name!"

"Sweetie, I never said you were a horrible mother. I just said that you couldn't do everything by yourself. Every little boy needs a father – someone to fill that role. That has nothing to do with you being a bad mother. You're a wonderful mother. Maybe if Logan knew…"

"Yea well he doesn't know alright, Mom." Rory said. "Logan is nice and happy in Palo Alto totally oblivious to everything and everyone in my life and he's happy that way. He wants nothing to do with me ever again. I broke his heart. He hates me and he has every reason to!"

"Rory you weren't ready to get married. Logan doesn't hate you. Sure he was angry but he's cooled down since then it's been five years."

"I called him when I found out, Mom." Rory said, shocking her mother into speechlessness. "His cell had been disconnected and everyone I contacted to get a hold of him told me that he didn't want to speak to me and they wouldn't give me his number."

"Well maybe if they knew you were pregnant…"

"I don't want to sit here and waste time on maybes Mom!" Rory said. "_Maybe_ if I would have said yes he would have been there when I found out and he would have been happy and we would be married now and Jamie would have a father. _Maybe_ if his cell phone hadn't been disconnected I would have told him and we would have gotten back together and Jamie would have a father. _Maybe _if we hadn't have gotten drunk and crazy the night before he left for that business trip to San Francisco we would have used a condom and I wouldn't have gotten pregnant and there wouldn't be an innocent little boy forced to grow up in a house with a mother who can't even take care of herself and father who doesn't know he exists."

"Rory…" Lorelai soothed as he heard her daughter start to choke back tears.

"But those are all maybes, Mom. None of them are reality. I didn't say yes. I couldn't get a hold of Logan. And I did get pregnant. Now I have Jamie, who is the light of my life and I wouldn't trade him for anything. If fate wanted me to give Logan up in order to raise his son then so be it. I can live with that as long as I have Jamie. He's all that matters to me."

"I know, sweets…" Lorelai said. "I know Jamie is all that matters. I do. I'm just trying to tell you that to be a good mother you don't have to sacrifice your happiness. It's okay to move on. You're not cheating Jamie and you're not cheating Logan either. You've been over for five years. You should go out and try to see someone."

"I have." Rory squeaked.

"What?"

"That night a couple weeks ago when I had to interview that lawyer on the Arnold's case, I don't know what happened I guess I had one to many glasses of chardonnay."

"Rory…"

"His name is Mark Stevens. He's twenty-eight years old. He went to Yale law. I guess that's what got us talking. Let's just say there was a hell of a lot more said off the record than on the record that night and we ended up… Well unlike you said, it hasn't been five years since I've had sex."

"Have you seen him again?" Lorelai asked. Rory sighed.

"I haven't been out with him but he sent some flowers to the office the other day and he's called a couple times. He's a really nice guy. I don't know what to do."

"Does he know about Jamie?" Rory let out a breathy laugh.

"Yes." She said. "He knows. I showed him a picture of him and he smiled right away. It wasn't awkward or anything. He started talking about his niece and how much he loved her. The morning after when we were talking he said he understood if I wasn't ready to try dating because of Jamie. He said he'd wait if I ever wanted to call him again."

"Well, what can I say? He sounds like a keeper to me, kid."

"I know." Rory said. "He's perfect. I mean…He's everything I always wanted for Jamie and…God he was good in bed…"

"Well that's always a plus." Lorelai added.

"I don't know why I have this feeling in my stomach though…it's like…I don't know there's something missing with him."

"_MOMMY!" _

Rory almost dropped the phone at the shrill scream that came from outside. She ran to the kitchen window and peered outside to see a bicycle lying on the pavement, its back wheel still spinning rapidly. With a glace to the right she saw her little boy lying on the pavement curled into a ball.

"Mom!" Rory said in a panic. "I have to go. Jamie's hurt. I'll call you."

"Wait! Rory - "

Rory didn't even hear her mother protesting on the other line. Her mind was in overdrive. She hung up the phone instantly and bolted across the kitchen to the back door. She walked down the steps of the patio and turned right, making her way to the street where Jamie was still lying in hysterics. She ran around the bike, throwing herself on the ground next to her bleeding son.

"Logan James Gilmore!" She said, inspecting his injuries and moving to pick up his bike and throw it in the grass. "I told you to wait until I was off the phone. Thank God you're wearing a helmet. Where are your elbow and knee pads, young man?"

"Mo-Mommy it hu-hurts!" Rory bent down and picked him up, carrying him into the house.

"You're right it hurts. That's why you're supposed to wear those pads. Now you've got boo-boos all over yourself."

Jamie seemed to calm down slightly in the arms of his mother as she bounced him and told him not to cry. He was a big boy now after all. She carried him to her bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. She took out some Bob the Builder band-aids along with some larger generic ones and the Neosporin. She set his sniffling self on the sink and took off his helmet before placing the first-aid supplies on the counter.

"Is it- is it gonna hurt?" he asked, wiping his tear filled eyes with the back of his dirty hand.

"No sweetie." Rory said while she cleaned his scrapes with a wash cloth and spread some Neosporin on her finger. "This is the stuff that doesn't hurt." As her fingers inched closer to his skin he scrunched his face in apprehension, not entirely believing her. Rory smirked as she came in contact with his wound and watched his face relax.

"See? That doesn't hurt does it?" Jamie shook his head. "Now what were you thinking?" Rory said sternly, causing her son to wince. She placed a large band-aid on the giant scrape just above his knee.

"You know you were supposed to wait for me to help you and you know you're supposed to wear all your pads every time you get on your bicycle. You can't learn how to ride a bike all by yourself. You need help. Peter has his Daddy helping him today that's why he was able to do it."

"I leanreded how to do everything else by myself." Jamie defended. "I don't need a Daddy to help me. I don't have a Daddy." Rory looked into her son's confidant brown eyes and couldn't keep the picture of his Daddy from flashing in her mind.

"Yes you do have a Daddy, sweetheart." Rory said. "We've talked about this. You have a Daddy and he loves you very much." At least he would if he knew about him.

"If he loves me than why isn't he here? And how can he love me if he's never met me before?" Jamie asked. Rory bit her tongue. Her little boy was getting too old and too smart. She wasn't going to be able to dance around the subject of his father for much longer.

"Well, sweetie, sometimes you don't have to know someone to love them. You can love just the idea of them. And your Daddy loves the idea of you very very much." At least she hoped he did. After all, Logan had once wanted a life and a family with her. When would she stop trying to convince herself that she was lying to her little boy? Maybe when she could understand that lying for his benefit was okay. Wasn't it?

"Don't you love your Daddy?" Rory asked. Jamie nodded his head emphatically.

"Uh-huh." He assured. "I have the pitchure of him you gave me by my bed. I say goodnight to him every night."

"Good." Rory said. "See you don't have to know him to love him and he's the same way."

"Does he have a pitchure of me by his bed?" Rory's heart stopped beating and she froze.

"I don't know, sweetie." She said. "I bet he'd want one though." If he knew he existed he would want one. At least she hoped he would.

* * *

He never thought he'd be here again. That was for sure. Looking around the hotel suite he would be calling his home, he couldn't help but wonder when the hell his life had gotten so screwed up. Just last week he had been happily residing in San Francisco, living off the plentiful spoils of the paycheck his Internet Company provided for him. Now here he was in New York, his old life finally seeping its way back in – angst that he hadn't felt in years resurfacing. 

His father was dead.

That was a sentence he never thought he would utter. Growing up it seemed the man was invincible. Logan had expected to go before him. He never thought this day would come. He couldn't help but laugh at all the 'never thought's' that had popped into his head over the past week.

He never thought he'd move back to New York. He never thought he'd speak to his family again. He never thought he would ever walk into the halls of Huntzberger Publishing Group again. He never thought his father would have kept him in his will. He never thought he would cry over the death of a man he never considered a father in the first place.

Mitchum was a horrible man. This was something Logan knew all his life. Yet, sitting here, looking ever the document that claimed that upon the date of his father's death he had inherited his fortune and his position as CEO, Logan couldn't help but wonder what Mitchum was all about.

This was one of two things. He had come to that conclusion a while ago. He just didn't know which thing it was – and each thing was so dramatically different than the other. He had no idea what to make of it.

The first thought that came to his mind was spite. Mitchum knew how much Logan detested everything that had to do with the life he had once led. It would have been hilarious for him to leave it all to Logan when he died, forcing him to handle it purely out of revenge. If there was one thing Mitchum knew about his son, it was that his sense of responsibility was never failing. No matter how much Logan hated it, he would never dream of destroying the Huntzberger legacy.

And then the second thought that popped into Logan's head came after the wake this afternoon. When his mother had thrown herself on him, sobbing into his shoulder and refusing to let him go, afraid that he would leave and it would be another five years and a death of a loved one before she saw her baby. He could still hear her voice as she told him how much she loved him and how much his father had changed the day he moved.

"_He was never the same, Logan. He missed you so much. I missed you so much. We failed you and I'm so sorry. _We're _so sorry, baby. You have no idea how much we – I – _we _love you. He loved you, Logan. He did. You have to know that. Please you have to know that. He wanted so badly for you to know that." _

Maybe erasing his name from the will was just the one thing that his father could never bring himself to do. Maybe he felt like if he took his name off as his heir it would be admitting that he had lost the only son he had. He had lost his son due to his horrible fathering. It was almost worse than losing a son to death. Logan couldn't imagine losing a child in anyway – and he didn't even have a child to lose.

He liked to think he was here because of the second reason.

The sound of his phone broke him out of his mournful daze and he sniffed, cursing himself for becoming emotional about this. Her promised he would never cry over Mitchum Huntzberger again years ago. When he picked up his phone he smiled at the caller ID.

Susan.

He didn't know what she was. She was his secretary – that much he knew. But beyond that he wasn't sure. He liked to think they were friends. But the kisses they had shared on more than one occasion brought him to believe they were something more. He just wasn't sure what.

"Hey." He answered.

"Was that a crack I heard in that voice?" Susan asked, causing Logan to smile for the first time in a couple days. "Logan Huntzberger – the iron man – crying? Say it isn't so."

"I wish it wasn't so." He said, wiping the lone tear that had fallen down his cheek away. "I feel a lot better now that I'm talking to you though."

"It's okay to cry, Logan." Susan said, her voice taking on a serious tone. "He was your father. Even if you claimed to hate him his death is still cry worthy."

"I haven't cried in five years." He said.

"That's not true." Susan said. "Remember that time you came over to my place and we watched _Brian's Song_? There was some cryage going on there. Although, it was pretty entertaining watching you try to hide it." Logan laughed out loud.

"Well that doesn't really count." Logan said. "I haven't cried about something real in five years and before that it had been three."

"You keep saying that." She said. "Am I ever going to find out what this huge ordeal was that actually made you cry or is this one of those things you're going to take to the grave?"

"I don' t know." Logan said. "Maybe someday I'll tell you."

Maybe someday he'd move on with her at his side.

**TBC…**

* * *

Well there it is folks! Was is worth me taking the chance of handling another story? Hahaha. I hope so. I know some of you are upset about Susan and Mark but I will shout it from the mountains if I have to, this is a Rogan! Rest assured. Lol.. Don't forget to review! 


	2. Beginnings and Endings

Second chapter, here already! Haha. I know I didn't reply to you all again and I know some of you don't care but I always feel so guilty when I don't and you guys take the time to review. Just know that I'm so grateful to the positive response to this story you all were so wonderfully supportive. You made my day! There were a couple questions about Déjà vu and I just want to assure everyone that it's NOT over. I will be continuing with it. I'm just going to be managing three stories now…Haha... / 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Two**

**Beginnings and Endings**

_The End of a Newspaper Era _

_After years of service to one of the most noted and respectable newspapermen in this country, this reporter is preparing to move on to a different world. The death of Mitchum Huntzberger is a loss that many of us sitting in his desks all over the world are mourning. As for myself, I find it difficult to imagine what my career will be like in the near future without him. _

_I've worked for many a newspaper in my day, but never before did I witness a man so dedicated and proud of his job until I signed a contract with HGP. While questionable rumors of personal life have certainly made the press, the name Mitchum Huntzberger has always prevailed to be a name held with dignity and respect. His never-ending devotion and passion for his work have immortalized him alongside legends such as William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, even his own Grandfather for which he named his son and the future of his legacy… _

"Rory?"

She jumped at the sound of her name, having been so immersed in her reading that she had no idea there was anyone else in the room let alone next to her desk. The paper that she had been reading fell to the floor in a crumpled mess as a result of her violent jerk and her heart was beating so fast and loud she could hear it in her ears. She took a deep breath to calm herself and looked up; smiling at the sight of a man she wasn't expecting to see.

"Mark." She said, calming down instantly. For a second she was worried it was Hugo. "Hi." He bent over to retrieve the paper that she dropped and handed it back to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you." he said as she accepted the paper and tried her best to refold it before giving up and placing it to the side.

"It's alright. I was just reading. I should be working anyway so really I should thank you." She said nervously.

"Yea well…I was in the building. I had to meet with a client so I just thought I'd stop by and say hi. I hope that's alright…"

"No that's…that's great. It's nice. I'm glad you stopped by. I've been wanting to call you it's just…"

"I understand." Mark said with a sincere smile. Rory smiled back, her mother's words haunting her once again.

"_Every little boy needs a father – someone to fill that role." _

Mark was a great guy, that she already knew from the little time she spent with him. He sort of reminded her of Marty, during their freshman year of Yale that is, before Logan walked into her life and he suddenly turned into a jealous ass who liked to pretend she didn't exist. He was sweet, slightly shy, and he radiated this air of what-you-see-is-what-you-get. And if Rory got what she was seeing now by investing in a relationship she was willing to take a risk. Spending the time she did with her grandparents and Logan in the past she had learned how to separate the real from the fake. She just knew Mark was real.

"So what we're you reading? Anything news worthy?" Mark asked after a period of silence. Rory kicked herself for letting her thoughts run away with her. Silences like that during this period of a relationship were always awkward and uncomfortable.

"Um…Mitchum Huntzberger died." Rory said.

"Yea. I heard about that." Mark said, scratching the back of his neck. "Did you know him?"

"I'm sorry?" Rory asked, panicking slightly. Was it so obvious that she knew the Huntzbergers? Mark looked slightly panicked.

"It's just…the look on your face while you were reading. It seemed like you were personally involved that's all."

"Well I worked for him for a while." Rory said simply, deciding not to mention that during that time he had told her she would never make it as a journalist.

"Oh."

"…And he's Jamie's grandfather…you know…"

"Oh!" Mark said, shocked. "Wow…um…I…wow I'm really sorry for your loss…"

"Don't be." Rory said immediately. "He was…not a very nice man to say the least. Though everything in this article is certainly true. He loved his job. It was his family that couldn't bring himself to care about. It's for the best that he was never involved in Jamie's life."

"So…Logan Huntzberger…" Rory's heart fell. It seemed to be doing that a lot lately. The last thing she needed was to scare the one man she'd met in five years that could be a father to her son away from her life.

"You knew him?" she asked, recognizing that certain tone in his voice.

"Vaguely…I talked to him at some parties. He was uh….he seemed like a nice guy."

"Yea he was…" Rory said simply.

"So…um…" Mark started, now slightly uncomfortable since the topic of Rory's ex had come up. It wasn't exactly something that came up so fast. Though, to be honest, the other aspects of their relationship – whatever it was – had happened very fast as well.

"Yes?" Rory asked.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab something to eat tonight. I know it's short notice…"

"I'd love to Mark." Rory said. "It's just….I don't think I'll be able to find a sitter for Jamie that fast." Mark nodded, disappointed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Well…" he said apprehensively. 'Why don't you bring him along?"

"What?" Rory asked, laughing. "I don't think that's a good idea. The last time I took him to a nice restaurant he broke two glasses, refused to eat anything, and colored on the table cloth…I don't want to go through that again." Mark laughed out loud.

"Who said anything about nice? We could take him to Chuck E. Cheese's. I haven't had good pizza in a while."

"Well I've never associated Chuck E. Cheese's with good pizza before but…"

"Come on, Rory. I want to take you to dinner."

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Jamie's pretty cute from afar but he can be a handful. I don't want…"

"I like you, Rory." Mark said. "I want to get to know you. I want to make this work. I'm not scared of your kid. I think it's great that you're so concerned about him. If you let me I'd like to get to know him as well. Maybe I could teach him how to ride a bike. You mentioned he's been wanting to learn…"

"You'd really do that?"

"Yea." He said with a nod. "Look my Dad died when I was six I know how hard it is to grow up without a father and I know hard it is for a single mother to let someone in. But I'm not going to stop trying."

Rory smiled and took a deep breath. If she said no to this man she might be denying Jamie the chance to ever have a solid male role model in his life. Could her apprehension to get in a relationship really come in-between something that could be really amazing for her son?

"Chuck E. Cheese's sounds great."

* * *

It had been five years, five long years since he had opened the door and been greeted with the sight of the foyer, the scent that had once been so familiar he failed to notice it any longer, and that feeling that was so indescribable he didn't know where to being. It was just…home. As ironic as it may be, he felt like he was home.

"Logan, thank God you're here. I'm going insane." He turned to his left to find his sister walking over to him with a tiny little blonde girl attached to her hip. Yes, he was definitely home.

"What is it Honor?" he asked with a sigh, reaching forward with a smile to brush his hand along his baby niece's hair. She let out a squeak and leaned toward him. Honor absentmindedly handed the little girl over to him.

"Mom is driving me crazy! She's gone completely off the wall." She said, causing Logan to roll his eyes.

"Well all sounds normal to me." Logan said, ignoring her and walking toward the living room, bouncing and talking to the smiling baby the entire time.

"No, Logan, you don't understand. You haven't been here for _five _years!" Honor yelled. Logan turned around to look at her with a slightly hurt face, not realizing that his sister had held such a grudge. Honor signed and shook her head, rubbing her hand across her eyes before crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm sorry." She said. "I'm just…I'm a little on edge right now. I know you did what you had to do and I support that. I don't want you to think that I resent you for anything…I just… There were times….especially in the hospital last week where I really needed my brother and you were never there."

"I'm sorry, Honor…I never meant for this to…I missed you too, you know."

"Yea well…bygones." Honor said, brushing the matter aside and hugging her arms tighter around herself for a moment. Logan watched her with a sigh, knowing that her feelings regarding his leaving ran deeper than she was bringing on. He couldn't help but wonder if her need to stay calm and cool had allowed her to grieve over their father yet. She and Mitchum were always close.

"Right…"

"I was just trying to say that…you haven't been here so you don't know…" Honor started. "Logan after you left, Mom went psycho. She turned into this crazy super-mom pod person. She started calling me everyday just to check in. She was obsessed with when Josh and I would give her a grandbaby. She started having us over for dinner all the time. She was so afraid that I would…"

"Abandon them…" Logan said, crossing his arms and looking down to his feet.

"I guess…" She said. "Dad just threw himself into work. I would go months without seeing or talking to him. He was never here."

"I thought you said things changed." Logan said bitterly. Honor closed her eyes.

"It wasn't the same, Logan." She assured. "But now this is….God, I don't know what's going on. Ever since Daddy died she….She's like a whole different person. She started talking in an accent…."

"What?"

"Oh yes….she called Josh, Kate, and I 'y'all'" Honor said in horror. "If there was one phrase I never thought I would hear come out of Shira Huntzberger's mouth….it was y'all."

"Well she is from Alabama."

"She made us buttermilk pancakes and bacon this morning for breakfast, which may sound scary but words cannot describe how delicious they were! Now she's cleaning out the basement. There are boxes everywhere. She's wearing sweatpants. She's delirious – out of her mind with grief."

"Okay just…" Logan handed the baby back to Honor and made his way to the basement door. He walked down the stairs, coughing when a giant pile of dust exploded in his face. "Mom?" he asked apprehensively.

"Logan!" She said cheerfully. Honor was right, he could detect a faint southern twinge in her voice. It wasn't as bad as it must have been thirty-five years ago. But it definitely wasn't there when he was growing up. "I'm so glad you here, sweetheart." She gestured for him to walk over to her and he timidly made his way. "Could you get on the ladder and take those boxes down for me? Put those muscles to use? They're just to heavy for me to lift myself."

"Mom…" Logan said slowly. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" She asked. "I'm cleaning out this basement. Your father always had mounds of crap piled up and he never let me clean it out. I figure it's fair game now. Though technically it's yours now. You don't mind do you?"

"Uh…no…"

"Good, that's what I thought." She said, pushing him over to the ladder. Without even realizing what he was doing, Logan climbed up three steps and started taking boxes down off the shelf with ease, handing them to his mother on the floor who seemed to have much more trouble than he did.

"I talked to Larry McDonald today, from the Post. I thanked him for the column he wrote."

"What column?" Shira asked.

"The column about Dad. You didn't read it?"

"Oh…Logan I've been so busy. I haven't even looked at the paper all day. I don't think I've sat down since I woke up this morning. There's just so much to do, you know."

"No…I really don't." Logan said. "Why are you doing this, Mom?"

"Doing what?" Shira asked.

"Cleaning the basement, cooking breakfast, speaking like you just got off the bus from Birmingham?"

"Well I happen to be from Birmingham, Logan. And I don't see what wrong with actually getting some work done around this house for a change. This crap has been locked up here festering in the basement for years and I'm sick of it. I want to move it. I want to get it out of here and now that your father I gone I finally can. I didn't realize that was such a big problem! Maybe I'm tired of coming home to the same things every day, seeing the same unsentimental objects lying around and mocking me. Maybe I want to be able to live in a house that I'm comfortable in. Maybe I want to… never mind. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so important to you." Logan said, lifting a dusty crystal vase and handing it to his mother. Shira took the vase from his hands and lovingly brushed the dust from the rim, her eyes beginning to glaze over with tears.

"Well it is…" she said, picking up a rag and wiping the remaining dust off the vase. She looked at it and sighed. "My mother gave me this. I'm going to go put it in the kitchen."

Logan turned and watched his mother leave the basement, sighing once the door was closed. Suddenly, after watching his mother go through a mental breakdown, he realized that his home might never be the same. Not that it was something to mourn over, he left that home behind five years ago. Still… he didn't know what to make of everything changing in his life. He didn't know how to be the support system for two emotionally unstable women, a CEO for a company he didn't even want, and a world wide known name. he just wasn't ready for it. It was strange how much he wished for his father to grab him by the arm, drag him to his office, and scream at him the moment he walked in the door. At least all would be right with the world.

As his eyes started to sting again, he groaned, rubbing them furiously and climbed off the ladder. He settled himself on a box and took his phone out of his pocket, dialing a number he knew oh so well.

"Logan Huntzberger's office. This is Susan speaking. How may I help you?"

"Just keep talking. That's helping already." Logan said.

"Hey you." she said. "You don't sound so good."

"Well if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck…"

"You mean you don't look good either? Do you want me to call your stylist?"

"You're funny." Logan said before taking a huge breath. "I don't think I can handle this anymore Susie."

"Yes you can." She assured.

"No. I can't. You don't understand. My sister won't cry. My mother is trying to pretend the last thirty-five years of her life never happened. I knew my parents' marriage wasn't the greatest but she almost seems relieved that he's gone…she can finally be herself again… I don't know….it kind of hurts. It's like…if she hated everything about her life than what about her kids?"

"Your mother doesn't hate you, Logan."

"Hate no." he said. "Resent…that's a different story. And I can't do this HPG crap. I don't want it. I don't want any of this. I just want to go home." She could hear the tears starting to leak through his voice.

"I'm booking a flight right now."

"I can't come home, Susie. I still have all this shit to deal with."

"Not for you. For me. I'm coming over there."

"Susan…"

"You don't need to be doing this by yourself. You need to mourn too you know. You can't be everyone's support system. I'm coming. I'll be there tonight." Logan closed his eyes and sighed.

"Thank you." He said, closing the phone and holding his head in his hands.

"Susan?" His mother said cheerfully as she walked down the stairs. "Well it's about time. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever plan a wedding."

"We're just friends, Mom." Logan said, trying in vain to hide the groan in his voice.

"I was so sure you'd marry that Gilmore girl I was beginning to think you…well…"

"I would have invited you, Mom." Logan said before his mother would have to finish the thought, pushing the thought that he was so sure he would marry her as well away from his mind. "I would have invited you and Dad. I don't hate you. I just… I was at a point in my life where my future was this complete blank slate and I had all these choices and options and opportunities…and I just… I needed that time away from all this to find out what I really wanted, who I really was. I never meant to hurt you. To tell you the truth I didn't think you really cared." Shira closed her eyes and turned away from him, busying herself with boxes once again.

"Yea…well…I cared…"

* * *

Jamie hid behind his mother's leg, burying his face in the soft cotton skirt. When she had told him that they were going to go out to dinner with a friend he thought she meant his Aunt Lane and Steve and Kwon. He had gotten really excited and bugged her about it constantly all afternoon. He wasn't expecting this.

He didn't know who this man was and why he was going to dinner with him and his mommy. To top it all off he didn't even have Kwon and Steve to play with. The man squatted down on the floor and looked him in the eye with a smile. Jamie's grip on his mother's skirt loosened a little bit. He seemed nice enough.

"Hey there, buddy." Mark said, sticking out his hand. "My name's Mark. I'm a friend of your Mommy's." Jamie looked at his hand and furrowed his brow, wondering what he was supposed to do.

"Jamie why don't you say hi to Mark." Rory prompted, brushing a hand through his unruly hair.

"Hi." He said meekly, not moving to shake the man's hand at all. Mark smiled and dropped his arm, standing back up to his normal height.

"I'm sorry." Rory said. "He's usually not this shy. I have to give him a sedative most of the time." Mark laughed.

"It's fine." He said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yea I'm ready." Rory said, fixing her purse on her shoulder.

"How about you, Jamie? Are you ready to go?" Mark asked, standing on the other side of Rory as they made their way to the street where Rory's car was parked. Jamie was standing between them, leaning in the direction of his mother. Rory tousled his hair and lifted him in the car to fasten him in the car seat. Mark slipped into the passengers seat and turned around, focusing on Jamie.

"Do you like Chuck E. Cheese, Jamie?" The little boy nodded eagerly.

"Good deal. I do too." Mark said. "What's the best part?" Jamie looked at his mother with wide eyes and Rory smiled as she buckled him in.

"Mark asked you a question, baby." When Jamie turned his head to Mark and away from her, Rory closed the back door and climbed into the driver's seat, looking in the rear view mirror to watch her son.

"I like the ball pit." Jamie answered. Rory smiled, thanking heaven for Jamie's completely sentence. She put the car in drive and made her way down the street to the direction of Chuck E. Cheese.

"The ball pit!" Mark said. "That's got to be one of my favorites too. You know what's also great?"

"What?" Jamie asked, his shyness melting away to excitement as he continued to talk with Mark.

"Whack-a-mole."

"I love that game!" Jamie said. Rory peeked in the rear view mirror again and shook her head.

"You're not going to play that game this time. Remember? You're still in trouble for when you hit Steve with the mallet. The game is called Whack-a-mole not Whack-a-Steve." Jamie laughed out loud and Rory couldn't help the grin on her face.

"He was whacking my moles with his hand!" he defended.

"I don't care." Rory said. "We don't hit people. It's not nice."

"Don't worry, kiddo." Mark said. "We can play anything else you want, alright." Jamie smiled and nodded his head violently.

Rory couldn't help but watch her son through the mirror. She had been waiting for a moment like this for five years – a man at her side, talking and laughing with her little boy. Sure the man in her dreams had always been blonde and a couple inches shorter, but she had accepted a while ago that it wasn't going to happen that way. She needed a man – for Jamie.

It was all for Jamie.

* * *

… _And what a legacy to pass. The fourth in line for the Huntberger throne has got some serious shoes to fill. _

_Mitchum's vast string of accomplishments began at a mere twenty-five years old when he was short listed for a Pulitzer Prize, honoring his work covering the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979. Make no mistake about this man's upbringing. His posh lifestyle certainly did not hinder him from writing one of the most gritty and up-close encounters of the crisis ever published, ending with the gunshot fired in his leg during Operation Eagle Claw when he was sent home. _

_He didn't stay there for long. Before he could blink the man was off to begin his next accomplishment…._

Logan crumpled up the paper, taking a sip of the scotch he poured himself and throwing it across the room. He didn't stay for long. He stayed just long enough to knock up his mother and leave the moment she told him she was pregnant. He didn't hold his sister until she was two years old.

It was amazing what alcohol and solitude could do to a persons mind. Ten hours ago when he had read this column he couldn't stop thanking the man for writing such a wonderful tribute to his father. Now, as he sat here, he became more bitter by the moment, reading into the words in an entirely different way. For every accomplishment, every minute his father was _so devoted_ he left his family in the gutter.

He stood up, downing his drink and walking over to his phone. He needed to talk to someone. He needed….someone to talk to. Flipping through his contacts for Susan he groaned when he remembered that she was probably on a plane at the moment. He rubbed his face and fell back down in his chair, pounding his head on the table and clicking the up arrow on his phone to find someone else to talk to.

Stephanie…he hadn't talked to her in years. Seth…he wouldn't be any help. Rosemary…it was a possibility. He was about to hit the send button when his eyes landed on the name above hers.

Rory.

Ace.

She would help. She would make him feel better. She would come over and talk to him and make him a sandwich and put him to bed like she did the last time he was drunk and emotional. She would take care of him. She was the best at taking care of him. She would kiss away all the pain and make love to him and make him forget. He wanted someone to make him forget. He pressed the send button and held the phone to his ear for a century.

"_Hi, you've reached Rory Gilmore. I can't come to the phone right now but… "_

He threw the phone across the room and let out a whine that, if he wasn't drunk, would be mockable for days. When there was a knock at the door, Logan dragged himself off his chair and walked to the door. Opening it to find Susan standing there with a bag.

"Susie!" he said, grabbing her bag and throwing it inside unceremoniously.

"Logan…"

"I'm so glad you're here!" he said, pulling her to him in a fierce hug.

"I'm glad to be here, Logan. What have you been drinking?"

"Scotch!" he said happily. She tried to pull away but he pulled her back to him, holding her tightly and burying his face in her neck. She just held him there until his lips and his tongue brush along his neck.

"Logan?"

"Sh…" he said. "No talkie…" He silenced her with his lips and led her to the bedroom, her eyes open in shock all the way. She didn't know what was happening and if she tried to fight it her attempts were in vain, Logan being significantly stronger than her. If she wanted this to end she would have to say no.

It was funny…no was the one word she couldn't remember how to speak.

**TBC…**

* * *

Hope you liked it guys. Don't forget to review. And once again...it will be a Rogan. Hahaha. Think of it this way...the other relastionships just make their reunion so much more satisfying. **  
**


	3. Revelations

Here's the next chapter guys. I know some of you were looking forward to Déjà vu and it will be up soon. I just need to get off my 'brand new story' buzz before I do. Lol. It'll settle down eventually. You may not like this chapter…or you might love to hate it. Anyway…I just…this is such a cliché story line and I want to do it in a way that's as realistic as possible. Hiding a kid for four years isn't something a guy just shrugs his shoulders about. Anyway…thanks so much for all the reviews. I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it. Hang in there! It will get happier and Roganier. Lol

Oh and another thing…about Logan and Susan. I just want to clarify that Logan was not forcing Susan to have sex with him. He's just a man…he's a lot stronger than she is. If she wanted him to stop she would have said so and he would have stopped. He wasn't horribly drunk either – just buzzed enough to get his inhibitions low.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Three**

**Revelations**

Rory awoke in bed, feeling more rested than she could remember feeling in the longest time. She turned over, looking at her clock and seeing that it was ten o'clock. She smiled the brightest smile she could muster. She had forgotten over the years how wonderful it was to sleep in. Having a rambunctious son had made her into an early riser.

She threw back the blankets and slipped on some slippers before making her way out of her bedroom. She walked across the hall to the kitchen, pausing in front of Jamie's door on her way. She turned and slowly placed a hand on the doorknob slowly, gently turning and pushing the door open so that she wouldn't make too much noise. She peeked through the crack in the door and smiled at the sight of her little boy still sound asleep, tucked comfortably in the blankets and holding his teddy bear tightly to his chest.

She closed the door and made her way to the kitchen, smiling the whole way there. Jamie had really tuckered himself out last night. He had fallen asleep on the way home and there was absolutely no waking him up. He and Mark had hit if off more than well. Before they had even left the restaurant Jamie was asking when they would be able to see Mark again.

Rory didn't know whether to be elated or terrified. The evening went exactly how she would have hoped. Yet, part of her was wishing it had gone horribly. She couldn't help this feeling in her gut, wondering what would happen to Jamie if things didn't exactly work out between her and Mark. Perhaps she shouldn't have let Mark into his life so fast. Maybe she should have waited a while until she was fairly certain he would stick around. It's what her mother did with her.

On the other hand, maybe letting Jamie witness the beginnings of a relationship would be a good thing. Her mother's apprehension to let her see a relationship early in her life certainly hadn't helped her. Hearing her mother's tales of why they came to an end without ever seeing first hand the positive aspects had completely screwed up her ability to invest in a lasting relationship. She never let anyone in for fear that one day it would end. The only man she had ever really let into her soul had been Logan and even then she was too afraid to invest everything she had. It was ironic; everyone always thought Logan was the immature, commitment-phobe in their relationship. He was the one who had strived so hard to make it work while she subconsciously pushed him away.

For five years she had wondered what the hell happened to them. And during those five years and all the time that she had to lie in bed alone and think she had come to the conclusion that Logan's move to San Francisco and his "surprise" proposal weren't the reason she had said no. Looking back, she had realized that she had been setting up for a break up since the day he showed up at the hospital after her Grandfather's heart attack.

She was surprised that he had shown up. She was surprised that he refused to answer his phone. But it wasn't his kindness that completely threw her for a loop. It was the fact that the whole evening she had been watching her mother silently stare at the door, waiting for her father for hours. When Logan walked up to her with coffee in hand she realized that her relationship was working better than her parents' marriage. And she wasn't ready for something that serious. She wasn't ready to hand over her entire being to a man. Her mother had done that and look what happened. Her husband couldn't even bring himself to show up. When her grandmother broke into a giddy smile after the nurse told her she could finally see her grandfather, Rory lost it. The hand on her knee and the wink of his eye at that moment had her needing to get out. It didn't matter how much she loved him.

She began unconsciously sabotaging them at every chance she could get. She became distant. She hardly ever kissed him. She never called. He was always the one to initiate any form of communication. The night of his birthday she was so sure she was getting over her strange change of heart but following that she had the biggest excuse for a fight she could imagine.

She knew her reaction was over kill. Logan had done exactly what had done just the year before when her life had been thrown for a loop – and on a much smaller scale. He drank, but no more than he usually did. It wasn't as if he was coming home shit-faced every night. She could only remember one instance and he wasn't even aware she would be there when he got home. Deep down she understood exactly why he didn't want to come to Lane's baby shower and though it hurt that he would rather spend time with Colin and Finn than with her, she was a hypocrite for calling him out on it. Even after two and a half years, her mother was still the person she turned to first with a problem. Why should Logan go to her when she never came to him? He even apologized. And when he returned and fought with his father right in front of her, she could tell all he needed was a shoulder to lean on…she just made hers far too icy.

She was being a hypocrite, that's what it all came down to in the end. She even knew she was while she was doing it. She was cruel and mean hearted and a horrible girlfriend and she did it all on purpose. She knew the moment he saw that side of her he would run away but he didn't. He was supposed to but he didn't. He wanted to marry her, cold shoulder, selfishness, hypocritical tendencies and all. So this time, she had to bite the bullet. She had to end it. And boy did she end it.

Rubbing her hands over her face and shaking her head to clear the ugly thoughts away, she entered the kitchen. The first thing she did was put a pot of coffee on and then made her way to the front door to pick up the paper. But when she opened the door she was greeted with a bouquet of lilies where her paper should be. She smiled, picking up the flowers and reading the note.

_A beautiful bouquet for a beautiful lady. I hope you and Jamie had fun last night. I did. I'll call you. Mark. _

Rory smiled and brought them into the kitchen. Cheesy, yes, but wasn't it the truly cheesy gestures that really made a girl swoon? She fluffed them up, picked off a couple that had died and threw them in the trash before setting them on the table. Seeing her cell lying there she picked it up, raising an eyebrow when it said she had a missed call. She dialed the unfamiliar number and waited patiently for an answer.

And what an answer she received.

"_Hi…Logan Huntzberger's phone." _

She slammed the phone shut, dropping it to the table. Her heart started pounding rapidly in her chest. The fact that it was a woman on the other end didn't even seem to phase her. All she could think of was the fact that Logan had called her. Logan had wanted to talk to her.

Why?

Did he find out about Jamie? Was that even possible? If he did what on earth did he want? Did he was to see her? Did he…

"Mommy?" a groggy voice called. Rory looked over to see her son walking through the kitchen, rubbing his sleepy eye with his fist and clutching Fred the Bear in his arm. "I'm hungry."

"I know sweetie." Rory said, trying to regain her composure so he couldn't tell that she was having a mental breakdown. She needed to get out. She needed to do something. She needed to forget that Logan ever even attempted to reappear in her life.

"How about after breakfast we go to the park?"

* * *

"Hello…" Susan repeated groggily. "Okay then I'm hanging up now…" She pressed the end button on Logan's cell and placed it back on the nightstand where she found it. The horrid beeping had woken her up and he was nowhere to be found at the moment. Her only thoughts were that the call that woke her up _would _have no one on the other line. She snuggled back into the pillow and closed her eyes, groaning when the bed shifted.

"Go away…" she mumbled. Logan laughed as he moved under the covers and placed some kisses along her spine.

"I'm hurt." Logan teased.

"I'm tired." She mumbled. Logan smirked and rolled her over so she was pinned under him. She couldn't help but smile any longer.

"I could reenergize you." Logan said with a smirk. Susan rolled her eyes and mustered all of the energy she had to push him off of her. Logan landed on his back on the other side of the bed and she snuggled up against him, lying her head on his chest and closing her eyes. "I'll take that as a no."

"You can't reenergize me. It's your fault I'm so tired." She said. "I'm not nocturnal like some people. I like to sleep at night."

"Nah." Logan said. "Night's for other things, sleeping not so much." Susan laughed and let out a sigh, opening her eyes and looking up at his face. He smiled at her and began to play with a strand of her brown hair.

"Logan?" she asked, her tone becoming serious.

"Yes?"

"What are we doing?" she asked. Logan sighed and moved slightly underneath her.

"We're lying in bed." He answered, simply. Susan sighed again, this time propping up on her elbow and looking at him seriously.

"I'm being serious." She said. "I…I've been wondering what exactly has been going on with us for almost a year now. Haven't you? I mean…I can live with the fact that we've kissed a couple times and flirt every once and a while but Logan….we just had sex...three times."

"Yea…I uh…I was there." Logan said before laughing. "I wasn't _that _drunk."

"So…what are we doing, Logan?" Susan asked. "I need answers. This has gone into dangerous territory. I can't just sit back and roll with the punches anymore. I'm not a casual girl. I don't just sleep with random guys when I feel like it. I need to know if this is serious or not so I can invest in something or move on."

"I want to invest in something, Susie." Logan said. "It's just not easy for me alright. I'm not a commitment guy. I tried that once. I put my heart and soul and everything I had into a relationship and all I got in return was three years of my life down the drain, a useless rock, and a broken heart."

"Five years ago…?" Susan asked shyly. Logan sat up and looked her in the eyes.

"Yea five years ago." Logan said. "Look if you want me to tell you that I'm not seeing anyone else or that I really do care about you, not just what you can do for me, I will. I will and I'll mean it. I mean it Susie. I care about you. I haven't slept with another girl since the first time we kissed because I didn't know what was going on either and I didn't want to hurt you. But to say that I'm suddenly going to become a doting boyfriend… it's just… I want to but I don't' know if I can. I just need…"

"To go slow?" Susan asked. Logan nodded. "I can do that."

"Really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow in apprehension.

"Really." Susan said. Logan stared at her for a moment, examining her eyes and hoping to find some sort of reassurance. He nodded his head.

"Okay…" He said, leaning over to kiss her briefly. When he pulled away she smiled and settled back into the pillows, reveling in the euphoria she was currently feeling. Logan smiled and kissed her ear.

"I'm going for a run. You get some sleep." He whispered. Susan hummed and closed her eyes.

* * *

Logan's run had lasted longer than he expected. He had bolted out of the Plaza's front doors, crossed the street and made his way into central park at lightning speed. He hadn't run that fast and that long in what must have been years. He didn't really know where he was anymore and he had no chance of getting back very easily.

He hadn't been paying attention at all while running the paths of the park. His mind had been elsewhere the entire time, thinking about everything – his father, his future, his mother's mental breakdown, his sister's not-so-hidden resentment, Susan, Rory…

He hadn't been able to get her off his mind since the moment he called her last night. Waking up this morning and reviewing the previous night's events, he wanted to kick himself for letting himself become so tipsy that he would call her. The embarrassing stomach churning feeling of self-loathing still periodically washed over him. He found himself just running faster when it did. At least she wouldn't recognize his number and he knew not to answer if she called back.

Then there was Susan, who he'd been dancing around for the past year or so. She was perfect for him, this much she knew. She was smart, witty, beautiful, well read, sweet, caring. The fact that the first thing he noticed about her during her interview was her familiarity to Rory had nothing to do with anything. Susan was Susan. She and Rory were two entirely different people.

Logan took a deep breath through his nose and out his mouth as he quickened his pace, wanting nothing more than to get the thought of Rory out of his head for good. He almost succeeded when he passed a playground and saw a little boy fall on the gravel, letting out a scream for his mother. He stopped and turned toward the child, his first reaction being to run over and make sure he was okay. The appearance of his mother, however, paralyzed him.

It was as if, through the powers of his mind, he had manifested her being right before his eyes. There, no more than twenty feet in front of him stood Rory Gilmore. He watched in shock as she reached down and cradled the boy in her arms, telling him he was just fine, there wasn't even a scratch on him. She was the epitome of a mother in everyway. For years he thought an image such as this would only be seen in his dreams.

This was more like a nightmare.

His heart sliced in two. Had she really moved on that fast? She had a child and a husband and a home so soon after she had told him she wasn't ready? Did she just really not want him that badly? He couldn't take any more heartache. He ran. She had a kid. She had a little boy. She had completely moved on. She had a son! A –

Suddenly his feet planted in the ground and it seemed as if his legs had completely lost the ability to move. Numbers started spinning in his head along with the world around him. Finally regaining the ability to walk, he wobbled over to a bench and collapsed.

She had what looked to be a four or five year old son.

His mouth went dry and he reached up to squirt some water from his bottle in his mouth and then all over his face. Not even that could rouse him from the daze he was in. He absentmindedly pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number that he had memorized a while ago – a good friend of his father's and a lifeline for any good reporter.

"_Maxwell Investigations." _

"Jeff…" Logan said.

"Logan is that you? Are you okay? You don't sound all right."

"I…uh….I… I need….I need a really big favor."

"Sure anything, kiddo."

"I need you to put those skills of yours to work and run a name for me." Logan could hear the clicking and clanking of keys as Jeff opened a program on his computer.

"What's the name?"

"Lorelai Leigh Gilmore."

"Date of Birth?" Logan sighed, trying to remember the date that he had tried so hard to forget.

"October…something, 1982."

"What are you looking for?" Jeff asked.

"Medical records." Logan could hear the clicking of the mouse and the never-ending hum coming from his friend's lips as he skimmed over the information he had found.

"Well…there's nothing really major other than a birth about four and half years ago."

"What day?"

"January, 27, 08." Jeff said. "A boy. Logan James Gilmore. Should I be concerned that he has your first name?"

"January that's um….that would make him conceived when…like….may-ish?"

"Yep."

"Thanks Jeff." Logan said, dropping the phone from his ear and completely deaf to the detective's pleas to tell him what the hell was going on. All he could think about was the fact that he had a son. A son…he had a four-year-old son that he never knew about.

That heartless bitch kept him from his son.

His breathing went from fast to erratic and he could feel his whole entire body begin to shake. When took his wallet from his pocket to extract a card and lifted his phone to dial the number he could see the tremor in his hands and had to pause a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow. He looked back down at the card.

_Colin McCrae_

_Attorney at Law _

He dialed the number printed underneath his childhood best-friend's name and waited patiently on the line for him to answer.

"Logan?" Colin asked, without saying hello. "What's up?"

"Hey, man, listen, I sort of need some help…"

* * *

It had been nearly a week since she had dialed a strange number to find it was Logan's new cell and absolutely nothing had come of the occurrence at all. She felt like she could finally breathe easy. Logan wasn't going to bother her. On the other hand, she felt this tiny twinge of disappointment.

Despite the fact that a woman had answered the phone, obliviously just waking in a bed that for some reason had Logan's cell phone near by, she couldn't help this tiny little wishful feeling in her stomach that he had called her because he wanted to see her. After all, it made sense that he would be in town. His father had just died. Maybe he wanted to meet up.

Though as nice as that would be, rationality made her glad it didn't happen. Inviting Logan into her life would open a can of worms that was just better left sealed. As wonderful as it would be for Logan to be in Jamie's life, she didn't want to risk it. First of all, he lived in California. He would hardly ever be able to see the boy… and that would be assuming he would even try.

Logan was a passionate individual, this Rory knew. Once he got passionate about something it consumed his whole entire life. He would be exactly the kind of father Jamie would need, until he got bored and moved onto his next passion. Unfortunately that happened all the time with him. The last thing Jamie needed was Logan in his life one day and gone the next and she just knew that would happen. She needed someone safe. Mark was safe. If she let him he would stick around.

The sound of a loud clatter from the living room broke Rory from her thoughts. She put down the wooden spoon she was using to stir some gravy and wiped her hands on her jeans. Walking into the living room, she jumped at the sight of Jamie on top of the bookshelf.

"Logan James Gilmore!" She shouted, causing the little boy to jump and nearly fall off. Rory gasped, running to the shelf to catch him but he didn't fall. "What on earth are you doing up there, young man?"

"I'm gonna fly, Mommy!" Jamie said happily.

"No you are not!" she said. "What on earth made you think…" Rory trailed off as she heard a bell tower chime and turned to the TV where Peter Pan was proudly pointing toward the second star to the right.

"Don't you move a muscle!" Rory said. Jamie did as he was told as he watched his mother disappear into the kitchen. She came back with a chair and set it on the floor next to the bookshelf. She climbed on top and held out her arms for Jamie to climb into.

"But Mommy…" he said as his mother took him down. "I wanted to fly."

"Sweetheart, Peter Pan isn't real." Rory reminded much to the disappointment of the child. "Besides, you don't have any fairy dust. Remember, you need that to fly."

"Oh yea…" Jamie said.

"Now I never want you climbing on top of shelves ever again, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes." Jamie said, looking down at his feet bashfully.

"You could have killed yourself." Rory said, gathering the disheartened child in a hug and kissing the top of his head. "What would I have done without my little baby?"

"I'm not a baby!" Jamie said, pushing his mother away in anger. Rory chuckled and kissed his head one more time.

"Okay." She said. "I'm sorry. But since you're not a baby anymore I want you to clean up this mess you made by yourself."

"Oh man…" Jamie whined.

"Hop to it, kiddo." Rory said, standing up. "I'm going to go out and get the mail."

Rory left Jamie to clean his mess and walked out the front door to the mailbox. She grabbed its contents and walked back into the house, flipping through the letters as she went. Bills, bills, more bills, a reminder about Jamie's upcoming doctor's appointment, a letter from the firm of Martin Jacobs and McCrae…

Wait. What?

Rory walked back in the door, throwing the rest of the mail on the counter and opening the letter in confusion. When she pulled out and read what was inside all color drained from her face and she stopped breathing. When her eyes fluttered to the bottom of the page she dropped the letter and started to hyperventilate. She did the one thing she cold think of in a time like this.

She called her Mommy.

"_Hey, kid, what's happenin'?" _Rory's breath hitched in her throat and she let out a sob as she tried to speak.

"I've just been served." Rory cried.

"_What? What are you talking about, Rory?"_

"Logan is suing me for partial custody of Jamie."

**TBC….**

* * *

Please…stop….the rocks…they hurt. I might die. Hahaha. Please don't hate me. Like I said, I want to make this as realistic as possible and I really think this is how Logan would go about this at this point. I know you want them back together in like…the next chapter but it's not going to happen. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get good. But they will get good eventually. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review.


	4. Angels and Demons

Woof, the reviews! You guys are amazing! Seriously I can't even describe how wonderful your reaction was and I was a little worried that you wouldn't like where I was going with this so you're reaction was quite astounding. Thank you so much. I know some of you are mad at Rory and some of you are upset that she's taking all the blame, I just want to assure you that Rory is not going to be the bad guy in this. There really isn't want. She and Logan are going to be equally horrible and equally defendable. Lol. It's strange I know. And don't worry, Susan and Mark will be gone sooner than you think. Just not right away. Hahaha. Thanks again.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Four**

**Angels and Demons**

A screech coming from the closet woke Susan from her not so pleasant slumber. It was impossible to relax around Logan these days. Ever since the unwanted move into his parent's house he'd been on edge. The last thing he needed at a time like this was to have to deal with his family's dysfunctions. However, Colin had insisted that he move into the permanent residence as soon as possible. A judge wouldn't look kindly on a father living in a hotel suite.

Throwing the blankets off of herself, she walked over to him, stepping over the pile of clothes he had thrown on the floor, and ran her hands up and down his arms soothingly. He paused for a moment and leaned into her touch.

If one good thing came out of the torture he was going through, it was them. Logan's need for a shoulder to cry on had overshadowed his previous worries about moving to fast. When he came to her in hysterics after his run in the park, he had finally bared to her his soul. He simply couldn't take anything anymore. He needed help and she wasted no time in jumping in to help him. Once the subject her returning to California came up, she refused, stating that there was no point in going into work with him gone anyway and she wasn't going to leave him here by himself.

"Come to bed." She demanded. Logan only started throwing more of his belongings on the floor.

"I'm cleaning the closet. We're going to need the room." He said. "Some of these clothes are from 1997."

"You can clean out the closet tomorrow." Susan said, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing a gentle kiss to his shoulder. "You need to get some sleep."

"I tried that." Logan said. "I gave up after four hours of staring at my eyelids." Susan sighed and walked around to the other side of him, gathering him in a hug and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm worried about you." Susan said. "You haven't slept well in a week. You're not eating anything. I know your life has just been turned upside down but you need to take care of yourself. You're going to make yourself sick like this and now it's not just you anymore. You have a little boy to think about. He's going to want to spend time with his Daddy outside a hospital."

"How are you so sure about that?" Logan asked. "I don't know anything about him. For all I know Rory has been educating him about how horrible I am since he was born. He's probably in hysterics at the thought of spending every other week with me."

"That's not true." Susan said. "Every little boy wants to get to know his Daddy, Logan. If she's told him about this I bet he's so excited he can't think straight."

"I can't believe she kept him from me. She knew how much I… She knew how important this would have been to me."

"I know, babe."

"I always wanted a son. I wanted to give him everything my Dad never gave to me. I wanted to go to his little league games and teach him how to ride a bike, and throw a ball. I wanted to be there. I wanted to make sure I was never considered an absentee father and she made me one without me even knowing. She turned me into my father and I didn't have a single word in it."

"That's not true, Logan. You're not your father."

"He's going to hate me." Logan said. "He's going to hate me for not being there. I'm never going to be able to make up for missing the first four years of his life."

"It's not your fault, Logan." Susan said, lifting her head to look him in the eye. "You didn't know. You're not your father. He did know. He knew what he was missing and he chose to miss it anyway. You're fighting to have him in your life and that's more than Mitchum could ever say. Little Logan will understand that. Besides he's four. He's practically a baby. He doesn't know what resentment is. He's going to love you more than anything on the planet."

"I just wanted to be there." Logan cried.

"I know." Susan said. "I know you did. But the past is the past, Hun. You have to move on to the future. Don't think about how much you've missed. Think about how much you're going to see. This is a blessing. You have a beautiful little boy who is going to look up to you and love you and depend on you. I know it's scary right now but you'll get through this. You'll win this suit and you'll get to know your little boy. And after a while when he gets comfortable with you we can go home and he can spend summers in San Francisco and every other holiday and you can come over here whenever you want."

"How are you so sure I'm going to win?" Logan asked. "Colin said himself that it wasn't very likely."

"You'll win."

"What if I don't?" Logan asked. "What if I lose and I have to live my whole life knowing that I have a son out there that I've never met and that I'll never get to meet. I'll miss everything. I won't see him grow up. I won't see him graduate. I won't see him go to college. I won't see him get married and have kids of his own. I can't live like that, Susie. I can't live knowing that."

"That is not going to happen." She said. "Even if you do lose – which you won't – you'll work something out. You'll get to see everything important. Maybe you won't get to see as much but you'll get to see something. I can't imagine any woman you would once love keeping a father away from his son. She's got to have a heart, Logan, or you wouldn't have fallen in love with her."

"She kept him from me for four years! Why would she suddenly want me there now? She doesn't have a heart. She doesn't. I loved her but she never loved me. I thought she did but she didn't. She cast me aside like a bag of trash for a career she didn't even have yet. She never cared. Why would she care now? She's horrible. I hate her. I hate her so much. I'll never forgive her for this. I could forgive her for saying no and breaking my heart because I've moved on but I will never, ever, forgive her for this."

"You have to forgive her, babe. For Logan's sake, you have to forgive her. He needs his parents to get along at least. And how can you say she doesn't care? She named him after you. She named the one piece of you that she had left after you. That tells me she cares. That tells me she would let you in his life. Maybe you should talk to her. Maybe you could avoid this court thing all together."

"I don't want to talk to her. I don't want anything to do with her." Logan said stiffly as he moved out of Susan's embrace. "I just want my son."

Logan continued what he had been doing, picking up a blazer from Andover and throwing it on the ground. Susan closed her eyes for a moment, accepting the fact that she wasn't going to get him to calm down and get some sleep. With a sigh she walked up to him once again, grabbed his chin, and pressed a soft kiss on his lips. When she opened her eyes she found him looking down apologetically at her.

"Promise me you'll get some sleep tonight." She said. Logan sighed.

"I promise. I'll be in bed in a few minutes."

* * *

He needed another haircut. Rory had come to that conclusion after starting at her little boy, fast asleep on the couch for what seemed like hours. He looked so innocent and peaceful in his slumber. He brushed the too long brown locks off of his face and laughed as they fell right back where they had been before.

Jamie shifted in his sleep, scrunching up his face for a moment. Rory snapped her hand away, afraid for a moment that she had woken him up. He was the hardest thing to get back to sleep. She felt guilty for risking it, but she just couldn't stay away from him. Ever since she had gotten that summons in the mail she hadn't been able to leave the child's side.

"Rory?" Her mother asked as she walked through the front door of her house. Upon entering the living room she mouthed an apology once she saw that Jamie was asleep. She pointed to the kitchen and Rory nodded, following her inside.

"Do you want some coffee?" Lorelai asked as she placed the pot under the burner. Rory simply nodded and her mother took out a second mug from the cabinet. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm…" Rory said, not knowing how to summon the words to describe what she was feeing. "I just don't understand why this is happening. I don't understand why he would do this without consulting me first. He just sued me. He didn't even talk to me or ask why I hadn't told him. I tried to tell him."

"I know, sweetie." Lorelai said.

"Why now? Why when everything was going so well in my life. I was moving on. I was giving Jamie some sense of normalcy in his life with Mark and now Logan's back and…"

"Logan's Jamie's father, Rory. If that's not normal I don't know what is."

"Yes, Logan is Jamie's father – his father who hasn't been here for five years! What the hell am I supposed to tell my son, Mom? That he's going to have to live with his father that he's never even met?"

"It's not like he's never going to see you again, Rory." Lorelai said. "It's only every other week and he's not going far. He'll still see you when he's over there and he'll call you probably every night."

"That's not good enough!" Rory insisted. "I can't live a week without my baby tucked safely in his bed. Why is he doing this to me, Mom? Why is he taking him away from me? He has no right."

"Rory - "

"What do you mean he has no right?" A voice boomed from the doorway. Both of the girls turned to see a man dressed in flannel and a backwards blue baseball cap standing in the doorway. The Gilmore Girls turned, open mouthed to see a steaming Luke and a timid April entering the kitchen.

"Mommy!" Jamie yelled from the couch, startled at the sound of his step-grandfather's yell. Rory rose from her seat to fetch him.

"April, why don't you take Jamie outside for a while?" Luke asked. Rory sat back down in her seat and turned to her mother who was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, knowing exactly that this was going to happen. Once April and Jamie were safely outside the door, Rory turned to look with a face that could only be described as sorrow.

"Luke, I - "

"No!" Luke said, effectively cutting her off. "I can't believe this, Rory. I can't believe you would say something like that."

"Luke, please." Lorelai said. "Not now."

"No, this is going to be now, Lorelai. I've kept my mouth shut for five years because I didn't think it was my place! I can't do this anymore. That boy has every right to see his son! And" I can't believe that the sweet little girl who I've watched grow up, who would never hurt a fly, and has this heart of gold would ever utter that sentence."

"Luke I – "

"I don't want to hear it." Luke said. "Did you ever stop for a second to think about how he must have felt, finding out that the girl he once wanted to marry gave birth to his child and never even thought to tell him about it?"

"I did try to tell him, Luke!" Rory yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Don't you dare turn me into Anna! I tried to tell him. He's the one who changed his phone number! It's his fault I couldn't get in touch with him. I wanted nothing more than for him to be a part of Jamie's life but he decided he never wanted to see me again!"

"Oh you called him, how noble of you Rory. You really tried so hard to contact him." Luke said sarcastically. Rory grabbed her purse from the counter and slung it over her shoulder.

"I can't take this. I don't have to sit here and take this." She said.

"Rory, please… You don't have to go." Her mother said, rising from the couch and following her daughter out of the kitchen. Rory just continued to march out of the kitchen with determination.

"Yes I do, Mom." Rory cried. "I'm obviously not welcome here. I'm just the witch who's denied a man the right to see his son. Well you know what? Logan's not all that innocent either. I don't remember you ever jumping to his aide before. What happened to the you five years ago who couldn't get over how _immature _he was? That Lorelai certainly wouldn't trust her only grandson in his care. Jamie might end up in jail for grand theft auto before he's sixteen."

"Don't you mean boating?" Lorelai mumbled. Rory rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You know I came here because I needed someone to talk to. This is probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me before in my life and my own mother won't even jump to my defense while her husband attacks me!"

"Luke didn't mean to attack you, Rory." Lorelai assured despite her daughter's scoff. "He just…he knows what Logan is going through. And I'm not trying to take his side it's just that… You have to understand how painful this is for him. I'm not saying he has the right to take you to court. And he doesn't have the right to take Jamie away from you. But that's not what he wants. All he wants is to get to know his son."

"If he wanted anything to do with my life he wouldn't have broken up with me. He would have moved to San Francisco and made something work. He wouldn't have changed his phone and told his friends not to tell me or his family how to contact him. He wanted to cut ties. I just went along with it."

"This isn't about you anymore, Rory." Lorelai said, calmly, glaring at Luke as he approached them angrily. He backed off, taking his hat off and running a hand though his hair.

"This is about, Jamie. This is about an innocent little boy. It's not about Logan hating you for keeping him from you. It's not about you hating Logan for leaving you. It's about that little guy." Lorelai opened the front door and pointed in the front yard where he was pulling April out from her oh-so-hidden hiding place with a smile. Rory let out a sob and Lorelai placed two calming hands on her shoulders.

"You two are going to have to get over your differences and your hostilities for the sake of Jamie. He's what's important now. What happened between you and Logan five years ago is completely insignificant. It doesn't matter."

Rory continued to cry and Lorelai gathered her hysterical daughter in her arms, rocking her back and forth soothingly. Knowing that what was going through Rory's mind had little or nothing to do with what was happening in her life right now. It all came down to one thing. Rory wanted to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him for hurting her. The bomb of hurt they had been passing between each other for five years had finally exploded.

"Why did he break up with me?" Rory cried, causing Lorelai to sigh and close her eyes. "Why couldn't we work something out? Why did I need to have a ring on my finger? I wasn't ready to get married yet but I still loved him. We could be together now if he would have tried. I didn't want it to end. None of this could be happening right now if he just wouldn't have broken up with me…"

Rory relaxed in the arms of her mother, thinking back on the last time she had laid eyes on Logan Huntzberger. The thing about pushing the people you love away, is that one day... they actually leave.

"I hate him…"

* * *

He didn't know who the child in the picture was – the wildly happy, blond, little boy bouncing happily on his father's lap. It was Mitchum, that was for sure, but there was no way the child in that picture was him. He never remembered being that happy in the presence of his father. Though, he didn't remember much about his childhood at all. He felt a hand brush across his shoulder but he didn't move.

"That was taken at the Vineyard when you were three." He heard his mother tell him. He looked at the picture and threw it aside. "You kept trying to steer the boat." Logan was silent as he started at the bowl of cereal in front of him, his mind lost.

"Mom?" he asked apprehensively, not entirely comfortable with having a personal conversation with his mother. However, with the way she had been acting lately, Logan decided to take a chance. Shira paused what she was doing, placing the orange juice carton down on the counter and looked at her son.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Is it… Is it weird that I wish Dad could have met…" Logan trailed off.

"No sweetie." Shira said shaking her head. "It's not weird at all. No matter how many differences you two had, he was still your Dad. And there was a time, even though you've tried so hard to block it out, where you two were close. You're father would have wanted to meet him. I know I do. Even though his mother is a - "

"Mom, please." Shira reached for a glass in the cabinet, rolling her eyes along the way.

"Well I'm sorry, Logan. I just never liked her. That's all. It's a mother's prerogative."

"You talked to her twice." Logan said through gritted teeth. The last thing he needed was his mother to bring up old demons.

"I'm sorry but I can't help the fact that I didn't like her. Susan, however, is a wonderful girl. I'm so happy for you two. She's exactly the kind of girl I'd always wanted for you. She can put her problems and concerns aside when you need her. That Rory was always so selfish and petty…"

"Mother! Please!" Logan shouted. "Rory wasn't as bad as you're making her out to be and Susan isn't putting herself aside for me, alright? She's not that flexible. She's just…putting a lot of effort into helping me that's all."

"All I'm saying, Logan, is that Rory was never good enough for you. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes on her. For a while I started to come around but she showed her true colors. She just wasn't the kind of woman you needed. She didn't have your morals. If she did she would have put her career on hold and married you when she found out she was having your baby. That's what any respectable girl would do."

"Well you know what., Mom?" Logan said. "Rory didn't want to marry me alright? I asked her and she said no. She didn't want to marry me. So can we please just drop this… please?" Shira stood in front of her son in shock.

"Oh, Logan…." She said, walking over to him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I had no idea…" Logan stood up and shrugged her hand off of him.

"Don't worry about it." He said, exiting the kitchen and leaving his mother there speechless. He ran a hand through his hair, cursing himself for becoming upset at the idea of Rory's rejection. He was supposed to be over this.

"Hey you." Susan said, walking down the stairs in shorts and a tank top. She pecked Logan on the lips as she passed. "I'm going to sit out by the pool for a while. See you out there?" Logan sighed.

"Uh…yea…maybe." He said. Susan smiled.

"You alright?" she asked. Logan opened his mouth to respond when he was cut off by the sound of the doorbell.

"I'm fine." He assured, falsely. "I'm gonna get that. I'll meet you out there in a second."

"Okay." Susan said with an apprehensive smile. She watched him walk away with a sigh and turned to go outside.

Logan made his way to the front door, his feet becoming ice cubes from the cold marble floor. He felt bad about lying to Susan but what was he supposed to do? Tell his girlfriend that he wasn't fine? That he was wallowing over the fact that his ex didn't want to marry him? He couldn't do that to her. He had to get over this. Though it wasn't going to be easy now that he knew about their son. With a painful sigh he arrived at the front door, opening to meet a sight he definitely wasn't expecting.

It really wasn't going to be easy with her standing right in front of him.

He swallowed hard, as the bright blue eyes that had once haunted his dreams stared right back at him for the first time in five years. His heart flipped in his chest and all the anger that had once consumed his soul was gone. Having her right before his eyes, standing there so close that he could reach out and touch him was more wonderful than he could even imagine. All he wanted to do in that moment was reach out, grab her, and hold her as if he would never let go.

"Rory I - "

_Smack! _

Without thinking, Logan brought a hand to cup his red, stinging cheek that was now turned to the left, completely exposed to her gaze. He turned his head slowly, his mouth wide open from shock and pain. He met the gaze of his fuming ex, standing before him breathing deeply, her yes brimmed with unshed tears that, no doubt, she didn't want to let go in front of him.

"You sick son of a bitch." She spat, the tears coming dangerously close to falling.

"What the - "

"I can't believe you would do this to me. I can't believe that I ever fell in love with such a heartless bastard."

"I'm heartless!?!" Logan yelled. "You hid my son from me for four years! You want to talk about a bitch? Why don't you turn that finger away from my mother and toward yourself!" Rory raised her hand in the air, about to deliver another slap across his face, but Logan caught her wrist.

"Let go of me!" She yelled, trying to wrestle her wrist out of his grasp. Logan just held on tighter.

"I'm not going to let go until you stop slapping me."

"You're hurting me!" She cried, causing Logan to drop the iron grip he had on her wrist. Rory rubbed the soreness out of her joint and looked him in the eye.

"Yea well we'll call it even then. You already hurt me more that you could possibly imagine. I had no idea the idea of a family with me was so horrible to you that you would keep me away from my son for five years. If I hadn't come back here I probably would have never found out."

"It would have been for the better." Rory spat. "I don't want my son to grow up _anything _like you. I used to hope he would and now I can finally see you for what you really are – a selfish, cruel, heartless…"

"Butt-faced miscreant?" Logan spat.

"Don't you dare." Rory said. "Don't you dare bring anything like that up ever again. I can't believe there was a time when I was happy with you. I hope you rot in hell, Logan Huntzberger. I hope you rot in hell for trying to take my baby away from me. And don't think I'm going to make this easy for you. I'm going to fight you to the death on this. My Grandfather already has the best attorney in Harford handling this case and I'm going to make sure that you never, even for a second, have the power to take him away from me." Logan sneered and backed away from the door, resting his hand on the side.

"You're forgetting one thing, Rory." Logan said, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "I'm Logan Huntzberger." With that, the door slammed, leaving Rory alone on the porch, finally able to let her tears loose and fall to her knees in sobs.

**TBC…**

* * *

So there it is folks. The chapter that you all demanded as soon as possible. Lol. Once again please don't hate me….or Rory…or Logan….or Luke… Lol. I realized before I wrote this that Luke went through the same thing Logan is so I needed him to get mad. He'll come around though, he won't support Rory very much but he'll apologize and be nicer. I just needed him to blow up once. Hahaha. Don't forget to review!


	5. Betraying and Bonding

You guys are seriously blowing me away. Your reviews are so amazing! Thank you so much. I know a lot of you were hoping for an update for Déjà vu but I'm kinda blocked on Cody's story for the next chapter. I knew what I wanted for this one so instead of making you wait I just decided to update. As soon as I figure out exactly what's up with Cody I'll update Déjà vu. I have everything else figured out. Anyway this is the chapter I know you all have been waiting for. I hope you all like it.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Five **

**Betraying and Bonding **

"Are you okay, honey?" Sookie asked as she watched her best friend and business partner stare out the window in the kitchen, totally oblivious to any thing and everyone around her.

"Huh?" Lorelai asked, jumping slightly at the sound of Sookie's voice.

"It's just…you seem kind of out of it. You've been holding that coffee mug for ten minutes and you haven't even taken a sip." Lorelai placed the cup down on the counter and shook her head.

"I'm sorry Sookie." She said. "I'm just not with it today. Rory came over last night and… I don't know. I'm so worried about her."

"Well that's gotta be tough for her." Sookie rationalized as she started kneading some dough in front of her. Lorelai watched her handle the dough and lost herself once again in her thoughts, this time speaking them aloud.

"I want to support her in this, Sookie. I want to support her so much. She's my daughter. It's just…. I can't help but think she's going about this the wrong way. She wants to fight Logan on this and I just think… I think she should let him see Jamie. I think Jamie needs a father – his real father, not just some guy to take his place."

"Well, Luke was around much more than Christopher was when Rory was growing up and she turned out fine." Sookie defended.

"But Christopher was still there. Rory knew him. He was available if she ever wanted him. I just don't understand why she wants to keep Logan out of Jamie's life. I understand that she's upset about the way he went about things and frankly so am I but the kid still has a right to meet his son. It's like she using this as some means of revenge or something…. I'm hoping they both come to their senses soon."

"I'm sure they will." Sookie said.

"Lorelai?" A terrified waiter called as he entered the kitchen. She and Sookie both turned their head to him. "There's a problem at the desk that you might want to check out."

Lorelai rolled her eyes and made her way out of the kitchen, thanking the waiter on the way. As she walked out to the lobby she could hear the sound of Michel yelling followed by an angry man screaming in German. Of course it was Michel. She should have known better than to hope that there would ever be a day when she didn't have to smooth over bumps that he caused. And by the sound of it these bumps were almost as high as the Alps.

"Ich habe kein Toblerone gekauft und ich have es sicher nicht gegessen! Ich soll da nicht für zahlen! Streich es von der Rechnung verdamt noch mal!"

"Non! Je suis désolé mais il dit á l'addtion: Un Toblerone!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes and turned to the waiter who had followed her. The last thing she needed was to decipher two different languages with her headache. She groaned, shaking her head and suddenly wishing for nothing more than to be sitting in the diner with a cup of coffee.

"You didn't tell me Michel had started an international incident." Lorelai mumbled as she walked over to the bickering men. "Excuse me sir, is there a problem?" The German guest turned to her with a look of pure rage on his face; the vein in his neck pulsating and his cheeks flushed bright red. Lorelai plastered a smile on her face, despite the small bit of fear coursing through her.

"It says on my bill that I took a Toblerone from the mini bar in my room, which is not true and this…._fettarsch_ refuses to take it of my bill!" All three members of the Independence Inn looked at the man with raised eyebrows, each of them wondering what had been said.

"Excuse me." Michel sneered, his eyes wide with indignation." What did you just call me?"

"Ein fettarsch!" They looked around at each other once again, Michel becoming increasingly angry by each passing second of not knowing what he had been called. Lorelai was about to open her mouth to ask when someone answered for her.

"It means fat-ass." The voice of none other than Logan Huntzberger offered, sparking a gasp louder than anything he had ever heard before from Michel. Lorelai turned to him, speechless, wondering what on earth he was doing here.

The last thing she needed today was to try and iron out the problems between he and his daughter. If Logan had come to her, he couldn't be asking for anything simple and he definitely wasn't hoping to get a reservation. She looked to Michel, knowing that the situation was not going to get better without her help. However, she had yet to acknowledge Logan and she couldn't very well ignore him.

"Can I… Is it alright if I talked with you for a second?" Logan asked. Lorelai looked between the father of her grandson and the two bickering foreigners in panic, not be able to decide which situation needed her attention the most. Taking note of the lost look on Logan's face she made her decision.

"Michel." Lorelai said. "Will you please take the Toblerone of the man's bill."

"No!" He shouted. "I will not surrender to this…German pig!" Lorelai groaned.

"Yes you will!" Lorelai said. "Take it off the bill!" She yelled, grabbing Logan's arm and dragging him into lobby and gesturing for him to take a seat. He leaned forward on his knees, pressing his hands together in his nervousness. It was a very familiar picture. It was hard to believe that the last time she saw this he proclaimed his love for her daughter. Things had certainly changed since then.

"You look well." Logan said, his knees starting to bounce in anticipation.

"Perhaps you should just get to the point, Logan." Lorelai said. He sighed and looked at her with eyes full of what she could only define as desperation. He almost looked like a puppy, sitting in front of her with a look like that. It was so helpless and desperate.

"I need your help." He choked out. "Rory doesn't want me to see him and I…I go to bed at night and I can't even sleep because every time I close my eyes I see him – just that one little scene that I saw in the park and it keeps playing over and over in my head like…that's my son, you know?"

"Sure…" Lorelai sad.

"And I keep thinking what it would be like to hold him and talk to him and I'm just afraid – I'm so afraid that I'll never be able to. I just need to. I need to see him. I need to spend just an hour with him… a half an hour…" Logan hung his head low and ran his fingers through his hair.

Lorelai watched him in awe, trying to decide what she was supposed to do. How could she destroy the last chance this man had at seeing his son before the court trial. If he lost…well…there was a chance Logan would never be able to hold Jamie. Could she really live with that? Could she really live knowing that she cast him away when he had come to her so desperate and needy. He was Jamie's father – the man the little boy asked her about every time he stayed with her because his mother never said anything. She sighed.

"Rory has an appointment in Hartford tomorrow. She asked me to watch him." Lorelai said, causing Logan's head to snap up and look at her in disbelief. "If you wanted to we could meet up then." Logan jumped out of his seat and hugged her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much…You…You have no idea…just…thank you! Here 's my cell number." He picked up a pen and paper on the coffee table and scribbled down a number. "Just give me a call tomorrow, whenever. I'm completely open."

"Okay." Lorelai said, watching as he practically skipped to the door.

"Thank you so much, Lorelai." She smiled at him as he walked out the door. Once it closed, she shut her eyes, willing the voices in her head telling her that she'd betrayed her daughter away.

She'd done the right thing.

* * *

As she walked up to the playground with her uncharacteristically shy grandson in her hand, she caught sight of Logan pacing the bike trails, looking like a criminal with the police onto him. She never saw the kid so scared before in his life. Really, she didn't think it was possible. Perhaps he had changed in the past five years. With a sigh, she stopped and squatted down to Jamie's level, placing her hands on both of his arms.

"Ok, James." Lorelai said. "You ready for this, kiddo? If you're scared we can turn around and go right back home. You don't have to do this if you don't want to." The little boy snapped his head back and froth between his grandmother and the man pacing a few feet in front of him. He really did look a lot like the picture he had on his nightstand. He'd been waiting to meet his Daddy too long to back out now.

"I want to!" he insisted. Lorelai smiled and stood back up, taking Jamie's hand again and walking toward Logan who could now see them approaching. The closer they got to him, the more Jamie hid himself behind his grandmother's leg. By the time they had reached him, Jamie was hard to be seen.

"Hey, Logan." Lorelai said with a smile. Logan swallowed and greeted her.

"Hey Lorelai." He said before smiling at the sight of the little boy's arms wrapped around his grandmother's legs and his head peeking out from behind her. He squatted down on the ground next to him and had to resist the undeniable urge to gather him in the tightest hug he could imagine. If he was going to do this he was going to have to do it slowly. He didn't want to scare him.

"Hello, Logan. How are you?" He said, smiling at the little boy. He watched in confusion as the boy's face contorted in disgust.

"That's not my name…" he whined. Logan stood up, scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"Oh…" He said. "I'm sorry. I thought…"

"He goes by Jamie." Lorelai said, sensing Logan's dilemma. "Sometimes James. Rory wanted to give him Logan as a middle name but she decided Logan James sounded better than James Logan."

"Oh…right…" Logan said.

"Grandma can I go play on the swings?" Jamie asked, tugging on her pant leg. She looked down, smiling at him, and nodded.

"Sure kiddo, just be careful. Don't walk in front of them."

"I know!" Jamie called as he ran to the playground, leaving the adults standing awkwardly on the bike path. Lorelai turned to Logan who was staring at Jamie with a solemn expression as he ran toward the swings.

"I didn't even know his name…" Logan said, not tearing his eyes away from the child for even a second. "I don't know anything about him at all."

"You will." Lorelai said. "Jamie is an open book, Logan. Once he lets you in, he lets you in to every thing. It might take a while to get there but when you do it will be as if you've known him since he was born. He wants to get to know you. He was so excited to see his Daddy today. Trust me." Logan swallowed and nodded, forcing down his nerves and turning to face Lorelai. She continued to watch Jamie and Logan soon followed.

"He knows who you are." Lorelai said. "Rory has a picture of you in his room and she's told him you're his Daddy. He thinks you've always known about him."

"Oh…"

"He always asks me questions about you and I answer to the best of my ability. He asked what you're name was and how you and Rory met. He asked if you liked Cocoa Puffs because that's what you would have for breakfast if you ever came over and spent the night. I wasn't too sure on that one…"

"I like Cocoa Puffs."

"Well good cause that's what I told him. He asks about you all the time, Logan, really and I try to tell his as much as I can." Logan raised an eyebrow, wondering whether that was a good or a bad thing.

"Don't worry." She assured. "I didn't hate you that much." Logan looked offended and she sent him a teasing look, letting him know that she was kidding – sort of.

"Why are you doing this?" Logan asked calmly. Lorelai took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to think of a reason herself. "I mean… Rory will never forgive you for this if she finds out. Coming to you yesterday, I never imagined you would agree to this. I don't know how to thank you. I just… Why?"

"I don't know." Lorelai said. "When you came into the inn I saw this look on your face this desperate, heart broken, helpless look and… I just thought back six years ago when Luke was going through that and I remembered how he wanted nothing more than to just spend an hour with his daughter and he was so helpless to do anything about it. And I just… I couldn't consciously put another human being through that pain. I can't imagine being kept away from Rory."

Logan looked down to his feet and nodded his head slowly. He knew just how painful it was to be away from Rory.

"I can't believe this is happening to us." He said. "I never imagined... I didn't think it was possible for us to hate each other so much. Even when things ended I always expected to come back and be able to talk to her again. She really hates me."

"She doesn't hate you." Lorelai said. "She claims to but she doesn't. I think if you tried to sit down and talk to her about this you two could work something out without having to go through all this court drama." Logan shook his head.

"She made it quite clear the other day that she doesn't want me anywhere near Jamie." Logan said. "She said she didn't want him to grow up anything like me." Lorelai smiled sadly at him as she felt the hurt in his voice.

"Well… I think it's too late for that." Lorelai said. Both of them smiled as they watched Jamie jump off the swing, falling on the gravel with a laugh. He ran over to them, surprising Logan when it was his hand he grasped and not Lorelai's. She just smiled at him and Logan looked down at his son with a smile.

"Come on, Daddy!" he said happily. "Come spin me." The look on Logan's face when Jamie called him Daddy almost brought tears to Lorelai's eyes. She didn't need any more encouragement as to whether or not she was doing the right thing.

"Go on, Daddy." She said, nudging Logan on the shoulder just as Jamie started to pull him toward the carousel.

"Jamie?" Lorelai called, making her grandson let go of his father's hand and walk over to her. She noted the disappointment marked on Logan's face as his son's hand slipped away from his. "I'm going to go get some coffee down the street. Do you think you can stay here with Daddy for a while?" Jamie looked back and forth between his grandmother and his father with wide eyes.

"Whatever you want, kiddo." Logan said with a smile. Jamie looked at Lorelai and nodded.

"I can stay here." He said. Lorelai smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Okay, you have fun," Jamie scampered off, grabbing his father's hand once again.

She was doing the right thing.

* * *

"I'm gonna sit in the middle and then you gotta push me around so I spin really really fast, okay?"

Logan smiled at the little boy as he climbed onto the carousel and put his back against the bar in the center, reaching out his hands to grab onto the handles. Adorable didn't even begin to describe the child. It was hard to believe that he was his. This miniature human being who was so hyper and outspoken was his son – half of his genetic code.

He wondered if it would ever truly hit him. Having a son randomly pop into his life didn't give him much time to prepare. Just last month he was a single, childless, bachelor, living in San Francisco completely alone. Now all of a sudden he was thrown into a life he thought he'd left behind, trying to make a relationship work, and facing the fact that he had a child. It seemed like a strange dream. He only hoped Jamie would be able to except him in his life.

"_He's four. He's practically a baby. He doesn't know what resentment is. He's going to love you more than anything on the planet." _

He hoped to God that Susan was right.

"Okay." Logan said, forcing his nerves aside. He didn't want Jamie to see how on edge he was. He wanted this to be as normal as possible. "But I shouldn't spin you too fast." Jamie looked up at him in confusion.

"Why not?" he asked, his eyes wide like saucers. Once again Logan had to resist the urge to grab him and smother him with hugs and kisses. He had no idea it was possible to love someone so much and he hadn't even spent five minutes with the boy.

"Well if you spin too fast you might end up traveling through time. You might spin so fast that when you stop it will be twenty years in the future."

"Really?" Jamie asked, his face beaming up at his father with childhood innocence. Logan chuckled and was about to tell him that he was just kidding when Jamie hoped off the carousel. "Let's do something else instead." He said, hiding the tiny hint of fear behind a shrug of nonchalance. Logan laughed and shook his head.

"Okay, what do you want to do?" Logan asked, placing a hand on the back of Jamie's head.

"Let's play on the teeter-totter!"

"I think I'm a little to big for that one, buddy." Logan said. "You'd need three of your friends to help you."

"Oh yeah…" Jamie said, scrunching his face in concentration, trying to think of something to do. He just had to find a game to play with his Daddy. He didn't want his Daddy to get bored with him. He wanted him to play with him again. "We could go on the swings again!"

"Okay." Logan said. "Do you want me to push you?"

"No." Jamie said. "I can swing all by myself and I can get really really high too. Watch!" Jamie ran back over to the swings and hoped on. He started to kick his legs as hard as he cold and Logan smiled as he walked over to him, stuffing his hands in his pockets along the way.

"That's really impressive, kiddo." He said as he watched Jamie reach a height that to a four year old would feel higher than anything in the world. Jamie jumped off the swings again, a pastime that seemed to be one of his favorites. Logan's heart nearly jumped out of his chest as he watched him hit the rocks. He calmed down instantly when Jamie got back up and ran over to him, grabbing his hand once again and dragging him over to a bench. Logan laughed; it was almost impossible to keep up with the boy.

"Mommy always sits on this bench." Jamie said, suddenly wanting to fill Logan in on the smallest details of his life. Logan was happy to comply, not being able to imagine anything he wanted to do more than to just sit and talk with his son. "We come here on Fridays before we go to Grandma Emily's house. Mommy says that I need to relish engry before we go over there so I don't get in trouble."

"Release energy?" Logan asked with a chuckle.

"Yea, that's what I said." Jamie said with a nod. "I like the playground in Central Park better though. It's bigger and there's more kids there."

"Yea…" Logan said, looking around the small park and only seeing a couple of children. "I see what you mean."

"Mommy always reads when we're at the playground. The last book Mommy read was called _Animal Farm_ and I axed her if it was anything like _Charlotte's Web_ but she said no." Logan laughed again. It seemed to be all he was doing today. It was near impossible to follow Jamie's rapid subject changes and he imagined that he must have been very similar to himself as a kid.

"Do you like _Charlotte's Web_?" Logan asked, trying to remember exactly what it was about. It had been so long. All he could remember was a pig, a spider, and something about pie…

"Mommy read it to me once. She reads me a story every night. Sometimes she reads a whole book but that takes more than one night."

"What's your favorite?" Logan asked.

"Balloon Farm!" Jamie exclaimed. "It's about a man who has a farm and he grows all kinds of balloons instead of plants! One time Mommy took me to Applebee's and there was a man there who made balloon animals! He made me a alligator."

"An alligator?" Logan asked in faux astonishment.

"Uh-huh! Have you ever seen a alligator? I saw one on TV one time and it was really scary. I was afraid to get into Grandma Emily's pool after that but Mommy told me alligators didn't live in pools. Grandma Emily has a diving board on her pool but it's not as big as the one at the pool I go to. The pool I go to has five difernt ones and they keep getting higher and higher. One time I climbed up to the really high one but Mommy saw me and she wouldn't let me jump. She was really mad after that. She made me go home right away. That was at my friend Peter's birthday party. He always has his birthday parties at the pool. I wish I could have a birthday party at the pool. It's always too cold to go to the pool on my birthday. Last time I had my birthday at home but it was still really fun. I axed Mommy if you were going to come but she said that you were very busy doing very important things but you wanted me to have fun anyway. Are you gonna be at my next birthday party, Daddy?"

Logan stared agape at the child, still having only comprehended half of his speech. It had been so fast and so random that he didn't know what to make of the question he was being asked. He didn't know how to answer. He hadn't prepared to talk about anything like that at all. What was he supposed to say? Was he supposed to lie to the kid, tell him that he was definitely going to be there when he himself wasn't sure?

"I…" He started, watching Jamie look up at him with eyes wide in hope. Logan's heart broke and he hadn't even done anything wrong. How was he supposed to say no? How was he supposed to disappoint his little boy? He let out a small chuckle, finally understanding why Mitchum had always made so many promises that he couldn't keep. He just couldn't stand to see his heart break. He bit his lip and smiled at his son, finally thinking of an answer that he could live with.

"I would move heaven and hell to get to your birthday next year, Jamie. There's nothing I would want more." Logan watched as Jamie's face lit up in the biggest smile he had ever seen. Jamie hoped off he bench and grabbed his hand.

"Let's go on the slide!" Jamie yelled.

Logan laughed once more and prepared to spend more time playing with his son when suddenly, the sound of a violent slam of a car door caused him to look up. When his eyes landed on what was going on he felt a knife slice through is heart. Storming towards them was the angriest brunette Logan had ever seen.

This wasn't going to be good.

**TBC…**

* * *

Tada! I hope you liked it. I also hope you don't think Lorelai was too out of character. I needed her to do this….hahaha otherwise you would have waited a while for Logan to finally meet Jamie. Haha. Please review!


	6. Mending Wounds

Hey guys! The next chapter is here. I know you are all begging for some Rogan and it had finally come. However, with that being said, they are no where near ready to get back together yet. Right now they're working on not hating each other so much. Lol. Okay well…that's all I really have to say. Thanks again for all the reviews! I'm so glad you all are enjoying this!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Six**

**Mending Wounds**

The realization had finally come. Sitting in Mr. Cohen's office that morning had finally brought on epiphany that she was going to court with Logan Huntzberger. Logan – the only man she had ever truly loved, the man with whom she had once shared her deepest secrets of the past and hopes for the future. Their relationship had finally met it's final mark… and what a mark it was.

What had happened to them?

That one question alone didn't fail to bring tears to her eyes as she excused herself to go to the restroom during their meeting. Once composed, she returned. However, she hadn't been able to stop asking herself that question for the rest of the day. What hurt the most was the fact that the only answer she could think of was herself. She had happened to them. This was all her fault.

She had turned down his proposal, a decision that she had regretted since the moment he walked away from her. Yet, that wasn't even the beginning. She neglected to inform him that she was carrying his child. However she may try to defend the fact that she tried to contact him, she knew she hadn't. She'd given up far too easily. She'd let her hurt at his shunning of her stop him.

She remembered the day she had called him like it was yesterday. It was a day she considered to be one of the most painful days of her life. That day she had learned that any chance of salvaging the damage she had caused to them was gone forever. She had called Finn after finding Logan's phone disconnected and remembered his exact response once she asked how she could contact Logan.

"_I'm sorry, Love, but… Logan's not… He doesn't want to be reminded of you anymore. He's a mess. He needs space to move on with his life and he asked me not to give you his number should you ask. I think it's for the best, Sheila. You and Logan are over. You two never did the whole friends thing well…" _

It was one of those rare moments when Finn was actually serious, something that in itself added a level of drama that Rory couldn't handle. She had hung up and stopped calling. She didn't ask his family, knowing that it would more than likely open a can of worms. She didn't ask Hugo – her boss and good friend of Logan's whom she knew has his contact information. She didn't call 411 to see if he was listed. She didn't research the company that he was working at. She didn't fly down there and attempt to find him. She didn't tell anyone who would be able to contact him. All she did was wallow in the fact that he had wanted nothing to do with her any longer. And she decided that if Logan didn't want her in his life… she didn't want him in hers either.

So she would raise his child without his help if that was the way he wanted it.

She was petty and juvenile. She was hurt. Most of all she knew that if she invited Logan into her child's life, she would go everyday torturing herself, knowing that she would never get him back, have him involved in her life day after day but never being able to touch him, see him be a father to her son but never her partner in life, know that she had thrown every hope of a future with him out the window. She couldn't do it. She couldn't face him like that. She would die.

Without him, Jamie was the only bright spot in her life. He was the reason she wanted to come home every night. He was what kept her from sinking into a hole of depression she would never be able to climb out of. Now, facing the fact that she may not come home to see his smiling face everyday, that once Logan moved to San Francisco she would go months without holding him, she had no choice but to fight.

How was she supposed to survive without him? She had already lost Logan and now she was going to lose the one tiny part of him she had left. She couldn't let him take him away from her. She couldn't let him move back to California with her baby in his arms. Three months without him may as well be a lifetime. She would move heaven and hell to make sure Jamie slept in his bed every night until the day he went to school.

She stopped at a red light, pulling down her mirror to look at her face and wipe away the tracks of mascara her tears had left on her cheeks. She closed it and, with a sigh, leaned back against the seat, taking time to look out the windows and around the quaint little neighborhood she was driving through. She loved it here. She had become familiar with the area during her years at Chilton. Turning to the right she gazed upon the tiny little playground she always took Jamie to when they were over here. However, the smile on her face didn't last long as she took sight of the father and son sitting on her favorite bench.

Without a second thought, she turned her blinker on and made her way into the park, barely even taking the time to park correctly. She stormed out of her car, the sight of her mother's Jeep in front of her making her blood boil. As she stalked toward Logan and Jamie she made eye contact with the blond. His remorseful, pained, gaze making her want to falter. However, she held her ground, forcing herself to put on an angry expression, hoping to scare him away. It seemed to be working.

"Mommy!" Jamie said, his face lighting up in sheer joy. Fir the first time in his life, Rory ignored her son, moving past him to advance upon his father.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Get away from my son!" Rory said, causing Jamie's face to go wide. Logan watched the little boy and grabbed Rory's arm, pulling her away a couple feet so that Jamie wouldn't be subjected to the fight about to take place between his parents. However his efforts didn't seem to help. Jamie was still watching them in awe.

"He's my son too. And you wouldn't let me see him so I had to go behind your back." Logan sneered quietly.

"Well, thank you very much for that, Logan. You just made my beating you in court five times easier. Don't think my lawyer isn't going to hear about this." As the two of them continued to bicker, neither noticed Jamie slipping away from them, moving to climb to the tallest point of the playground. Maybe if he did something he could stop his parents fighting.

"I'm sure he will Rory. But I'm not worried. For some reason you seem to keep forgetting just who it is your going against." Rory scoffed and shook her head.

"You haven't changed at all…" she said. "You're still the same arrogant entitled jackass you've always been. Reality check, Logan, not everyone cowers in front of your feet. You're not as powerful as you think you are."

"Mommy look!"

"No, Rory, I think its you who's forgetting just how powerful I am. I own the media. If I wanted to I could expose every wrong move you've ever made in your life."

"Like what?" Logan smirked.

"Grand-theft-boating?" Rory's eyes went wide. "See my Dad always settled things outside of court, Rory. I've never been convicted of a crime in my life. I could spin an article about his trial that would have any judge in this country on my side. But I'm not going to do that. I don't play that dirty."

"Mommy, Daddy, look how high I am!"

"You're forgetting I'm a journalist as well…"

"Yes, a journalist employed by a dear friend of mine. Do you have any idea how much money my father has invested in Hugo's company over the years? Do you rally think he's going to let you publish something about me? He'd never risk it. Not only that but he would never allow something demeaning about me in his paper. I've known him a hell of a lot longer and a hell of a lot more personally than you have. He used to come to my birthday parties."

"I'm not letting you take him away from me." Rory said, not being able to respond to his statement that she knew was true.

"I'm not letting you keep him from me!"

"Mommy!"

"We'll see about that."

"Look!"

"Yea I guess we will." Rory said.

"Mommy!" The blood curdling scream of Jamie called from the playground. Rory groaned in exasperation and turned to look at Jamie.

"What is it - " Her annoyance soon dissipated however when she took sight of her little boy curled into a fetal position on the ground. "Jamie!" She yelled, running over to him instantly with a stunned Logan on her heels.

She couldn't keep the tears form her eyes any longer. She had never hated herself more than she did in that single moment. She had let a bickering match with the father of her child come in her way of keeping him safe. She should have been watching him. She should never have torn her eyes away from him for a single moment. She ran as fast as she could, throwing herself on the pebble ground of the playground next to Logan who had made it over there just a second faster. Jamie was screaming in pain.

"Jamie, sweetie, you're okay." Rory said, sparking a fit of screams from the child.

"No!" he screamed as he rocked back and forth, clutching his hand to his knee. "It hu-hurts!"

Logan reached over and turned Jamie over so he could have better access to his knee. The little boy had both hands clamped over his injury and Logan had to pry them away, much to the dismay of the child. Once his knee was clearly visible Rory gasped, covering her mouth with her hand as she looked at the blood streaming out of a huge wound. Rory reached over and collected Jamie in her arms, rocking him back and forth soothingly as he wailed in agony. Logan stood up and ran over to his car, opening the back door and taking out a hand towel from one of the boxes his mother asked him to drop off at the Salvation Army. Once he returned he wrapped the towel around a reluctant Jamie as Rory held him still.

"What happened, Buddy?" he asked.

"I-I-I-I climbed u-up th-there and I-I tripped a-a-and fell d-down a-and I hitted m-my knee o-o-o-on…" Jamie trailed off and pointed to the ground where he had landed. Logan followed his finger and found a sharp rock covered with blood lying in front of him.

"Oh man…" he whispered, imagining how painful that must have been. He couldn't blame the kid for crying. He picked up the offending rock and chucked it into the grass. He stood up, brushing off his pants and tried to pick Jamie up. However, Rory was having none of that. She hugged the boy to herself tightly and stood up while balancing her in his arms.

"Come on sweetie we're going home." She said, glaring daggers at Logan.

"What are you talking about, Rory?" Logan asked incredulously.

"I'm taking my son home, Logan. Where he lives. Where he belongs. I'm terribly sorry you're little kidnapping escapade got ruined but that's life then isn't it?."

"He needs to go to the hospital, Rory!" Logan yelled. "You can't take him home!" Logan watched as Rory's face fell in shock.

"What?" she asked weakly.

"That's not something you can cover with a band-aid! He needs to get that stitched up. We need to take him to the emergency room!"

Rory started to cry all over again, matching the tears that were still flowing down her son's face. She turned silently and ran to her car, passing her mother who had just entered the park on her way. The look on her face was one of sheer guilt and shock.

"Rory…"

"Don't even look at me!" She cried before placing Jamie in his car seat and speeding out of the park toward the hospital. Looking in her rear-view mirror, she could see Logan's Porsche following her the entire way.

* * *

The silence was deafening. Since the moment the doctor had taken Jamie out of the room to get some x-rays taken, all that was left was she and Logan. Jamie had been their only buffer, their only mutual reason for speaking. Now they were sitting by themselves with nothing there to focus on but eight years of history.

Rory's feet were dangling off the side of the examination table where she had been holding Jamie before the doctor took him from his arms. Logan was sitting in an uncomfortable chair against the wall, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and he his hand holding his head. His knees had been bouncing for five minutes now and Rory knew it was his nerves. It was a habit that apparently still hadn't gone away.

She couldn't help but stare at him as she had been for the past fifteen minutes. He was such a father. The way he had stood by Jamie and comforted him in his sobs, the way he knew exactly what to do, it was more than she could have ever imagined. It was almost as if he had been here for everything. He had jumped right into this role without a moment's hesitation. But then, she knew how much he had always wanted a son. He needed to somehow fill that hole inside of him left by his father's absence. Had she really denied him that chance?

"I heard about your, Dad." She said softly, almost in a whisper. She watched as Logan turned his head toward her and dropped his hands to his knees. The look of confusion on his face was prominent. He remained silent, tearing his gaze away from her and assuming his previous position. Rory bit her lip, slightly hurt by the brush off. However, she could hardly blame him.

"That column in the Times was really nice. It was uh….it was quite a tribute."

"Sure." Logan said, forcing down the feelings that the column roused in him. Rory laughed uncomfortably.

"It was kind of surprising. I didn't know it was possible to paint him in a good light." She joked, hoping to let some of Logan's stiffness loose. She was surprised to find that she had sparked the opposite affect. He went ridged and sent her a look of pure anger.

"Seriously?" he asked. "You're going to sit there and trash talk my father two weeks after he died? Did you ever consider the fact that maybe… I don't know… I'm grieving? He was my father. Yea he was annoying and overbearing when he was alive but he was still my father. I still loved him." Logan's head found its way back in his hands. It was the first time in fifteen years he had said that he loved his father out loud.

"I'm sorry…I was just…"

"Look I know you hated him because he actually had the gall to criticize the perfect Rory Gilmore but a decent human being would bite her tongue and consider the fact that maybe some people are actually mourning his death. Just because he was a hard-ass doesn't make him the tyrant you think he was. There were actually people crying at his funeral, you know."

"I'm sure there were Logan. I was just trying to lighten the mood. You used to joke about him all the time." She defended with a crack in her voice.

"Yea well he was alive then."

"I'm sorry…" Rory squeaked, bringing about another uncomfortable silence. "Do you think he's okay?" She finally asked. She heard Logan sigh and bit her lip.

"He's fine." He said. "Everyone gets stitches at some point in their life. He'll be okay."

Rory nodded and looked away from him, trying to force her tears away. He was being so cold. She didn't know it was possible for him to be this mean. He had always been the warmest sweetest guy she had ever met. The fact that her reaction to him had brought about this change was heartbreaking. There was nothing she could do about it now.

"I've never had to take him to the emergency room before. The last time he was in the hospital was the day he was born." Rory said. She watched as Logan closed his eyes and bit his lip in what looked to be pain. When he opened them she could see the faint tint of redness and the line of water filling his bottom eye lids. Rory kicked herself when she realized what he was thinking. He hadn't been there.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Logan whispered. "Why did you hide him from me? What did I do to you? Why didn't you want to ma- "

"Okay!" The doctor cheered as he carried Jamie back into the room and handed him to Rory. The boy had finally stopped crying, however, the look on his face was still one of sheer sadness. Rory kissed the top of his head and ran her fingers through his hair as he cuddled up to her.

"The good news is we don't have any broken bones. However, he's got a really nasty cut on his knee and it's definitely going to need to get it stitched up." Just as he said it, a nurse walked through the door carrying a tray full of utensils. Jamie wiggled in his mother's lap and started whimpering in fear. Rory kissed the top of his head once more.

"You're gonna be okay." She said, moving so that Jamie was sitting on the table rather than her lap. Logan moved from his chair over to his son and squeezed his shoulder.

"It's okay, Buddy. Once they numb you up you won't feel a thing." Logan said, deciding to leave out just how painful the numbing process was going to be. He had to get stitches when he was seventeen years old and even then the feeling of that needle going into his wounded flesh had brought tears stinging in his eyes. He couldn't imagine how a child would react to that.

"Mom, you actually might want to hold him for this." The doctor said as he extracted a needle from the tray. Rory panicked and lifted Jamie to her lap as the doctor approached. Logan walked around to the other side of Jamie to make room for him and he stood in front of his son and his ex-girlfriend. Rory looked at him in confusion as he grabbed Jamie's hand.

"Hey, kiddo, look at me, okay." He said. Jamie did as he was told tearing his gaze away from the doctor and his knee. "What did you do yesterday, Buddy?"

"Yesterday I went - " Jamie's answer was interrupted by a scream as the doctor stuck a needle into the cut on his knee and injected some anesthetic. He turned his head but Logan grabbed his face, forcing him to look away and focus on him once again.

"It's okay." Logan said as Jamie began to calm down. The medicine had already kicked in and he could no longer feel the throbbing pain where the needle had been injected. "You can't feel it anymore can you? It's all gone." Jamie nodded his head and sniffed. Rory held onto him tighter, kissing him and whispering soothing words in his ear.

"I-Is it o-o-over?"

"Not yet, Buddy." The doctor said. "But you're doing a really good job. Just keep looking at Daddy."

Logan regarded the doctor for a moment with a smile. It was a strange feeling, knowing that this man just assumed he was Jamie's father. The thing that was most incredible was that he was correct in his assumption. He was Daddy. The joy that brought was greater than anything Logan had ever felt in his life. He turned back to Jamie who was still whimpering from pain and wiped away his tears with the pads of his thumb.

"Just watch me, James." Logan said, gaining his son's attention once again. "It won't hurt as bad if you don't watch." Jamie nodded and started at his father as the doctor continued to make multiple injections into his cut until the wound was completely numb.

"My knee feels funny." Jamie said.

"Yep." He doctor said, getting up and placing the syringe back on the tray and grabbing the stitches and the medical needle he would use to place them. "It's numb so you won't feel a thing at all when I sew up your cut."

"Is i-it gonna be nu-numb forever?" Jamie asked. The doctor laughed and shook his head.

"No, you'll start feeling it again in about a day or so." He said. "Now these are dissolvable stitches. We use these because Jamie's cut is on his knee and they're more flexible than regular stitches. Also, these will naturally dissolve as his cut heals so you won't have to take him in to get them removed."

Rory nodded her head and Logan continued to capture Jamie's attention as the doctor sewed him together. They finished the conversation they had started before and once the doctor was finished, Jamie looked down at his knee in confusion, not knowing that he had even started yet. The doctor finished up by telling Rory and Logan of the care needed to prevent infection and optimize healing and by giving Jamie a toy dinosaur for being such a good patient. The toy had instantly brightened up the child's day. As the doctor left the room, Rory and Logan once again found themselves as an impasse.

Neither one of them wanted to mention the feelings this day had brought around. It was as if they were a real family.

* * *

"Bye, Daddy!" Jamie said after Rory strapped him into his car seat. 

"Bye, kiddo." Logan said. "You rest that knee, okay."

"Okay!" Rory smiled and closed the door, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood next to Logan in the parking lot. She looked down at her feet, not knowing exactly what she was supposed to do now. Logan seemed to mirror her thoughts. He scratched the back of his neck and stared vaguely off to the left.

"So…" Rory began. "Thank you, I guess."

"For what?" Logan asked. "I thought I kidnapped your son." Rory winced.

"Thank you for… helping me with Jamie today. I wouldn't have known what to do. I definitely wouldn't have thought to take him to the hospital. I… I just can't believe this happened…" Logan rolled his eyes.

"Well it wouldn't have happened if you wouldn't have wanted to have a rumble in the middle of the park." He said between clenched teeth. Rory's anger flared all over again and she started him in the eyes.

"I wouldn't have wanted to have a _rumble _in the middle of the park if you and my mother hadn't conspired to kidnap my son!"

"I wasn't kidnapping _our _son! I wanted to spend an afternoon with him which I haven't been able to do for the first four years of his life!"

"Well you're the one who decided you wanted absolutely nothing to do with me after you moved to San Francisco. I just made it easy for you Logan. I decided to play along!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Logan asked. Rory rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"I called Finn, Logan. Once I found out I was pregnant I called him because I knew that he would have your number. He told me what you said to him. He told me that you told everyone not to give me your contact information because you wanted me out of your life forever! I was just giving you what you wanted!"

"I never said that!" Logan said, completely and totally flabbergasted. "I never said that to Finn. I got a new phone so my Dad wouldn't be able to contact me. I didn't give you the number because I thought it would be awkward but I never told Finn not to give it to you! I would never have done that I…" Logan turned away for a moment in order to compose himself.

"You what?" Rory asked meekly, trying so hard to keep herself from crying. Not that it would really matter, she had cried in front of him all afternoon. Logan watched her for a moment, wondering if she really wanted to tell her what he was thinking. With a sigh he decided to just say it, hoping that maybe she would come around to letting him see Jamie if he did.

"I…I was still pathetically hoping I would get a call from you saying that you changed your mind."

"Logan…"

"I lived on that hope for weeks. It was the only thing that got my out of bed in the morning, thinking that maybe I would answer the phone and instead of a business call it would be you."

"I wanted to…" Rory said as tears started falling down her cheeks freely. "I would have if I thought…" Logan shrugged.

"No use dwelling on the past right?" Logan said. "I guess I'll see you in a couple weeks."

"Yea I guess you will…" Rory said. Logan nodded for a moment before reaching in his pocket and taking out his keys.

"Goodbye, Ace."

At the sound of her nickname Rory began to cry even harder. Never in her life had she wished so hard that she would have just tried harder. If she had tried harder to contact him they would be… Well, she didn't know what exactly they would be but they would be together.

She climbed in the car and once again wiped away the remaining mascara from her cheeks before sighing and composing herself for a moment. She turned on the car and turned around, smiling at Jamie he was trying desperately to figure out his new toy.

"Are you crying, Mommy?" Jamie asked.

"Yea, baby, I'm crying." She said.

"Why?" He asked. Rory pursed her lips and shook her head.

"I'm just really happy you and your Daddy are getting along so well. That's all."

Now if only they could get along as well.

**TBC…**

* * *

: D Now there is your Rogan guys. I hope you are happy. Hahaha. And don't hate Finn. I promise he has his reasons. Remember...it's Finn...He's a sweetie. Please review! 


	7. Between Right and Easy

So I know what you're thinking? Was I gone, sick, possibly dead? I know this update took forever and I am so so so sorry. It's all Harry's fault. Those of you who love him as much as I do know exactly why this took so long. Lol. I just couldn't stop reading. Haha I even made the chapter title a little Dumbledore tribute. On another note, this chapter was really hard to write so I hope it turns out okay. It's mostly based on Logan's fears and apprehensions about this whole thing. I hope you like it. Thanks so much for all your reviews and keep them coming!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Seven**

**Between Right and Easy **

"Where have you been?"

Logan entered the kitchen to see a panicked woman standing up out of her chair. He sighed, running his hands over his aching forehead and addressed her with a wince, just now realizing that he had been gone for hours without telling anyone at home what was going on.

It was strange, suddenly having people to think about when it came to things like this. For five years he had been living on his own, distancing himself from people, afraid that if he made too many ties he would just get hurt again. Now, within a month, he had his mother, sister, girlfriend, and even a son to think about. It wasn't just him anymore. It was something that was going to take a lot of getting used to.

"You were supposed to be home hours ago. You didn't call or anything. I was starting to get worried." Logan sighed guiltily and reached forward, pulling Susan into his arms and hugging her to him, trying as hard as he could to push the confrontation between him and Rory out of his mind. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about the past anymore. He was supposed to be moving on.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I really am. Rory found us in the park and Jamie fell…we had to take him in the emergency room…It's just been a really long day." Susan put her hands on Logan's shoulders and pushed him away from her slightly, looking up in his face with concern.

"Jamie fell?" She asked. "Is he okay?"

He's perfect. That was what Logan wanted to say. Though, he knew what his girlfriend meant. Jamie really was perfect in every single way possible – more perfect than Logan could have ever imagined.

"He's fine. He had to get a few stitches. I'm more worried about the aftermath of Rory finding him with me than anything else."

"Was she really mad?"

"She was really mad." Logan confirmed, walking over to the fridge to grab a beer before sitting on a bar stool on the island. Susan followed his lead, wanting desperately to know the details of his day.

"She accused me a kidnapping her son." Logan continued. "Worst of all I'm afraid that she's never going to speak to her mother again for helping me and it's all my fault."

"She didn't have to go along with it, Logan. It's not your fault."

"Yes it is. All of this was my fault. It's my fault Jamie got hurt. It's my fault I'll more than likely lose now that I couldn't wait to see him. This whole mess in entirely my fault."

It was the first time Logan had spoken those thoughts out loud all day. But on the drive home all he could think about was how much Jamie's getting hurt had been his fault. He was the one who arranged the get together at the park. He was the one who was so concerned about defending his precious ego that he allowed his four-year-old son to run off by himself. If he hadn't been looking for a fight Rory would have been able to get him safely home.

"Logan…"

"I shouldn't have done this. Rory was right. I don't have a right to be here. I don't have a right to waltz into Jamie's life. They don't need me. The only thing I'm doing is ripping open old wounds. I'm not going to win this case anyway and even if I do I'm still moving back to California in a few months. I say I want what's best for Jamie but I'm ripping him away from his home because I'm so damn selfish. All I'm doing is hurting him. I should just go home."

"You're not going home!" Susan said. "I'm not going to let you give up, Logan. You're scared. That's all this is and that's normal. You just spent the afternoon with your son for the first time. It's not going to be a piece of cake. Kids are hard and for the first time you're realizing that. You're realizing that it's not all fun and games and you're scared. Everyone is scared about raising a child, Logan. It's not easy."

"It's not just that…" Logan said, an image of Rory's tearful gaze flashing briefly in his mind. He looked down at the counter and fiddled with his hands, hoping to not draw attention to the fact that he had suddenly become very uncomfortable. "…it's complicated."

"You're going to be fine." Susan confirmed. "And you're not hurting Jamie by taking him away from his mother. Kids get passed from coast to coast all the time these days."

"That doesn't make it a good thing!" Logan snapped. Susan winced at his tone and looked away.

"Yea I guess you're right." Susan said.

"I mean you should have been there today. As happy as he was to see me all he could talk about was Rory and then when she showed up… It was like… I didn't even exist anymore. He was so happy to see her. I can't take him away from that. As much as I hate it… my being in his life right now is bringing more harm than good. I love him too much to hurt him like that…"

"But you're not hurting him, Logan. You're just…" Logan stood up, ignoring her and walking over to the phone.

"I'm going to call Colin and tell him to drop the charges." Susan closed her eyes and sighed, knowing that there was nothing she could do to convince him now. His mind was made up.

"Hearst called while you were gone… about the merger…" She whispered.

"Oh good!" Logan said, smiling for the first time since he had walked through the door. "I'll just met up with them, sign a few papers, and we can finally go back home and I can leave this hell behind forever."

"Right…" Susan said. She sighed once again and stood up, walking toward the staircase in the back of the kitchen. "I'm going to bed."

"Okay I'll be up in a second." Logan said, distracted by the ringing on the other end of the phone. Susan smiled half-heartedly at him and turned the corner, jumping with surprise at the sight of her boyfriend's mother.

"Thanks for trying to talk some sense in him." Shira said. "However I think this is going to need a mother's touch."

* * *

"Daddy said he was gonna come to my birthday party next year!" Jamie exclaimed as Rory carried him over to the bed and begun stripping him of his clothes. The little boy was sitting on the bed with his legs dangling over the side and, as always, he began swinging his legs back and forth.

"You're going to have to take it easy for a while, bud." Rory reminded as she walked to the dresser to pull out a pair of pajamas, effectively ignoring the comment the child had made about his father.

"It doesn't hurt." Jamie insisted. "I can't even feel it."

"You can't feel it now but you will tomorrow."

"Do you think there's gonna be enough cake?" Jamie asked, his voice panicked.

"For what, baby?"

"For my birthday!" Jamie clarified. "Does Daddy eat a lot of cake? Cause if he eats as much as Grandma then we're gonna need a really really big one!" Rory sighed.

"I think we'll have enough cake, sweetie. And I don't want you going and getting your hopes up right now. Your birthday is far away. We don't know it Daddy will be there or not."

"But he said he was gonna come!" Jamie insisted. Rory practically growled as she slipped the pajama top over her son's head.

"Sweetie, listen to me. I don't want you counting on your father being there for your birthday, alright? He might be leaving soon."

"How soon?" Jamie asked near tears.

"I don't know how soon sweetie, but Daddy doesn't live here, remember? He lives far away. That's why he's never been to one of your birthday parties before."

"But he said he would come back." Jamie whined. Rory sighed again.

"I'm not saying he won't. I'm just telling you not to get your hopes up."

"If Daddy goes home soon am I ever going to see him again?" By this time the tears were freely flowing down Jamie's cheeks and Rory's heart split in two. She could kill Logan for giving her baby a false sense of security. He had no right to march in and make promises to an innocent child that he didn't even know if he could keep.

"I don't know if you'll see him again, baby. We'll have to wait and see."

Rory had no idea that those words would send Jamie completely through the roof. His tears soon turned into wails and he took of out of his bedroom, limping slightly on his injured knee. Rory followed him as he ran through the house into the basement where he had long ago built his own little fort. Rory groaned when she realized where he was headed. By the time her legs had carried her down there, Jamie had already barricaded himself inside.

"Jamie…" Rory said as she kneeled next to the tiny entrance that she had no hope of climbing into. "Sweetheart, come out of there."

"No!" Jamie yelled. "I want Daddy!"

"I know you do, baby. But I don't know when you'll be able to see him again."

"I want to see him now!" Jamie yelled. Rory sighed and rubbed the tension out of her eyes. At this rate she was going to have a headache in a matter of seconds.

"Jamie, you can't see him now. He doesn't live with us. Now it's time for bed. Let's go."

"Everybody else lives with their Daddy!" Jamie argued. "Why can't I live with mine?"

"Because you live here, James." Rory said. "Now come out of there! Maybe we can go to Chuck E. Cheese's with Mark again? How does that sound?"

"I don't want Mark! I want Daddy!" Rory was near tears at this point. This whole day had to go down in history as one of the worst in her life. Right now all she wanted to do was put her son to bed and curl up in a ball but she couldn't even do that. Why did Logan have to come back and completely ruin her life? Things were going so great until he came along.

"Jamie, please come out of there. Mommy's tired. She doesn't want to fight anymore. It's time for bed."

"I want Daddy! I want Daddy now!" Jamie sobbed. Rory almost sobbed as well as a vision of her nice down pillow came into her head. She had never wanted to go to bed so badly in her life.

Reluctantly, she made her way upstairs into the kitchen and grabbed the phone, ignoring the flashing answering machine that no doubt was full of messages from her mother. Lorelai was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now. She dialed 411 and was connected with a number that she never dreamed she would call. As the phone rung, she began to wonder if she was right in the head.

* * *

Logan hung up the phone and a strange feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before – somewhere in between remorse and relief. He was glad to get all the ugliness over. He was happy that he wouldn't be ripping his son away from the only home he'd ever had. Yet at the same time, a flash of Jamie's smiling face come to his mind and he was reminded of what he was giving up. As much as it hurt him he had to do it. It was the right thing.

"So I take it you'll be going back home soon." He jumped at the sound of his mother's voice as she walked into the kitchen. He scratched the back of his head and turned hesitantly toward her. The last thing he needed right now was a guilt trip.

"Uh…yea…it looks that way." Shira let out a hum and regarded her son with a strange expression. Logan shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, rolling her eyes when he realized what she was thinking.

"I'm going to come back, Mom. Don't worry." He said.

"Oh I know that, Logan." Shira said. "That's not what I was thinking about."

"What were you thinking about?" Logan asked, clearly annoyed with the conversation already. His mother had a way of beating around the bush that was thoroughly annoying.

"Oh nothing…just thinking how lucky those bosses of yours are to have such a dedicated employee that's all."

"I don't have a boss, mother." Logan said. "I own part of the company."

"Well your partners then." Shira edited. "You know I see so much of your father in you. It's like he's not really gone after all." Logan froze and turned to look at his mother with a narrow eye.

"What are you saying?" he asked. Shira held her hands up in surrender and shrugged her shoulders."

"Sweetheart, I'm simply stating that you have a very nice passion for your work. A person who puts their career in front of everything else in their life is a rarity these days. It must be why you're so successful." She sighed dramatically. "Mitchum would be so proud."

"I'm not putting my career in front of everything. It's not the most important thing in my life. I'm not Dad! I can't believe you would say something like that."

"I don't mean it as an insult, dear." Shira said. "I think it's very… loyal of you to leave your son behind for more important things. Those people are counting on you. There's nothing wrong. You just have your priorities set. Nothing wrong with that."

"There's nothing in the world more important than my son!" Logan said, finally exploding with fury at his mother's false accusations.

"There's not?" Shira asked.

"Of course not! Why do you think I'm doing this? Because my job is more important? That's not true. That's not true at all. I don't want to hurt him. I don't want his life to be torn to pieces because of me. That's why I'm doing this. It may be hard but I'm choosing the right thing for once. I'm not going to take the easy way out. I'm not Mitchum. I would never choose to hurt my son." Shira shook her head.

"You're not choosing to hurt your son, Logan. You're choosing not to hurt yourself." Shira said, finally shredding the calm demeanor she harbored when she was speaking with him before. Logan instantly knew that the words she had spoken were just a ploy to get him to say exactly what she wanted him to. Logan glared at his mother for a moment before turning on his heel and walking toward the stairs.

"You're crazy." He mumbled, as he was about to leave the kitchen. Shira stopped him, pushing on his chest and forcing him back into the kitchen.

"No. You're going to stay down here and listen to me."

"You can't force me to listen to you and frankly I have no interest so…goodnight." Logan tried to escape the kitchen once again

"Logan Elias Huntzberger, I'm your mother and you're going to stay in this kitchen and listen to me." Shira exclaimed pointing a finger in her son's face. Logan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I am not going to sit by and let history repeat itself once again. There's something you need to get through your head, Logan, and it's the fact that the reason you're running away from your responsibilities isn't because you're concerned about tearing Jamie's life apart. It's because you're scared of what will happen if you stay."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes I do know what I'm talking about, Logan. I know you hate to hear it but you're too much like your father for your own good."

"I'm nothing - "

" – like him?" Shira asked, causing her son to glare once more. "Yes, you've mentioned that before. But you didn't know you're father, Logan. That's something that you love to mention, isn't it?" Off of Logan's annoyed look Shira continued. "Well you were right. You didn't know him like I did. Why do you think he was never around when you were growing up, because he didn't love you? That's not why. He loved you just as much as you love Jamie."

"You'll forgive me if I doubt that just a little." Logan said.

"You don't have to doubt it, Logan, because it's true. The thing you have to understand about the Huntzberger men is this one fact, they never want to hurt the people they love so they distance themselves from everyone around them. They think that if they get too close to people that they'll inevitably end up hurting them in someway. What they don't realize is the fact that their absence hurts more than anything. You're no different, Logan. That was your father's problem, your grandfather's problem, and it's yours too."

"That's not true…" Logan said.

"How long did it take for you to tell Rory that you loved her?"

"That's none of your business! Besides that was years ago and I hardly see how that's relevant now!"

"It was a long time after she told you wasn't it? And didn't you even break up for a while before you had the nerve to tell her?"

"How do you know that? Did you have someone following me or something?"

"People talk, Logan, particularly about this family. Emily Gilmore has always been a braggart. Everything her granddaughter ever told her was mentioned to the DAR and it got back to me. I'm not as ignorant as you like to think I am. I know things about you that would probably make your skin crawl."

"I seriously doubt that." Logan said. "I understand that you would know more about my relationship with Rory because of the Gilmore's but you can't know everything." Shira raised an eyebrow, looking as if her son offered her a challenge.

"Hannah Perry when her parents were in Cancun the summer between your sophomore and junior year." Shira stated, watching as Logan's eyes went wide terror at the mention of a very significant night in his life. "I told you, Logan, I know things that would make your skin crawl. You stopped seeing with her when you realized you were falling in love with her as well and don't think I don't remember how adamant you were about denying the fact that she was your girlfriend."

"She wasn't my girlfriend and I didn't love her." Logan sneered.

"I never said you did, Logan. I said you almost did but you ended it before you could! The point I'm trying to make is you're terrified of loving people because you're afraid they won't love you back. You're afraid that they'll resent you and hate you and that your presence in their life will only make their life harder."

Logan turned away, tears brimming his eyes at his mother's revelation. Shira had never let on that she knew him in the way that she so obviously did. Her words stung at his soul, wanting to deny them but knowing deep down that she was right.

"Logan…" Shira said, her tone softening as she placed a hand on her son's face and forced him to look her in the eyes. "Jamie isn't going to be worse off with you in his life. I know you're afraid of being a terrible father and a disappointment to him, you're afraid that he's going to hate you but he won't. Don't you see that leaving now would hurt him so much more?"

"I don't know how to be a father." Logan said. Shira closed her eyes.

"I know… " she whispered.

"How can I keep Jamie from being hurt if I don't know how to keep him safe?"

"Logan…Do you remember this?" Shira walked over to the kitchen counter where the box of pictures Logan had been looking through days before still rested. She took out the picture of him sitting on his father's knee on their boat, his smile a mile wide.

"Vaguely…" he admitted.

"Don't you remember what it felt like during those few fleeting moments in your childhood when your father was around? You were so happy then. It didn't matter that Mitchum was never the shining example of a father, he was your hero. You didn't start to hate him until he started leaving more and more often."

Shira paused, taking a moment to look at the picture with a look of longing in his eyes. It was strange looking at this picture now. Jamie looked so much like him as a child but he had Rory's brown hair. Once again and unsustainable craving to see his little boy again rose in his stomach.

"You don't have to be a perfect father. No one knows what they're doing when they raise their first child. It's instinct. You'll know what to do when you're with him, you don't have to know it now. It'll come to you, you just have to be there. Jamie will love you as long as you're there for him. If you leave… if you leave him he'll hate you, Logan. Not now…he's too young to understand that. But when he gets old enough to know that you left him…he'll resent you. Don't make the same mistake your father made. You're presence isn't going to hurt him. It's your absence that's going to hurt him."

Logan stayed silent, staring at the phone on the wall and wishing he could turn back time. For the first time in his life, his mother was right.

"You are going to be a wonderful father, Logan. You just have to let yourself."

With that Shira went back upstairs, leaving Logan alone in the kitchen to stare at the phone on the wall. All he had to do was let himself….

As the phone rung, Logan lifted himself off the stool and answered, never expecting to hear what was heard on the other side.

"_Logan?" _a tearful voice inquired. Logan's heart started pounding in his chest.

"Rory?"

"_Logan, he won't come out… he's crying and he won't stop. And I'm so tired I just want to go to sleep but he won't leave and I can't get him out and he's just crying and I don't know what to do…" _

"Wait…what? Rory, you're gonna have to slow down."

"_It's Jamie. He's so upset. I told him that you were going to be going back to San Francisco and I didn't know when or if he would see you again and he took off to this little fort he has in the basement and he won't come out until I tell him that you'll see him and I just don't know… I'm so tired, Logan. I can't do this right now. Will you talk to him please?" _

"Yea…yea…just…give him the phone."

Logan heard Rory bless him and make her way down the basement stairs. Just in this little conversation he was seeing that his mother was right. Jamie was counting on him to be there now and nothing, not even the tremendous chance that Logan may be the worst father to walk the planet would hurt him worse than his walking away right now.

He heard a sniff on the other end and a pathetic greeting come from his little boy's lips. He couldn't help but smile. He was talking to his son on the phone.

"Hey, kiddo." Logan said.

"_Hi." _Jamie's sniffling voice answered.

"What's this Mommy says about you not leaving your fort? It's way past your bed time, you know."

"_Mommy said that I might not see you again. Are you moving back to San Pisco, Daddy?" _

Logan laughed. "San Francisco? Yea, buddy, I am. But I promise I'll see you again before I leave."

"_Will you see me tomorrow?" _Jamie asked.

"I don't know, kiddo. That's up to your Mommy."

"_Mommy?" _Logan heard Jamie ask. _"Can Daddy see me tomorrow?" _Logan didn't know what exactly happened but he did know that the pause over the line wasn't nearly long enough for Rory to come up with a yes, but for some reason that was the answer his son gave.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, kiddo." Logan said. "Now you get up to bed. It'll come faster that way."

"_Okay!" _

"Can I talk to, Mommy now?" The next thing Logan knew Rory's voice came over the line. "Sorry about that."

"_It's okay. Tomorrow's fine for me anyway. I was just caught a little off guard. That's all." _

"We could meet at the country club. Jamie could swim and we could talk about some things over lunch."

"_That sounds fine." _

"Great see you tomorrow then. Twelve?"

"_Twelve." _Rory confirmed. _"Logan?" _

"Yea?"

"_Thank you." _

**TBC...**

* * *

There it is guys. I hope it was worth the wait. Once again I am so so sorry. Don't forget to review. 


	8. One Step Back, Two Steps Forward

If I say I'm sorry will that even make a difference? Oh well. I'll say it anyway. I am so so so so so sorry about the delay and I'm afriad it won't be the last. I'm just super busy right now but know that I am working as fast as I can. Thank you to everyone who reveiwed and PMed me. You guys really keep me going and if it weren't for you this chapter would have taken even longer to get up. Once again I'm so sorry. I hope you guys like this one and that it's worth the wait!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Eight**

**One Step Back, Two Steps Forward**

The bouncing from the backseat hadn't stopped since the moment they had entered the car. Rory, once again, turned her gaze to the rear-view mirror and smiled at the sight of Jamie bursting with excitement as he looked out the window. The minute they pulled into the parking lot Jamie began bouncing ever more than he had before.

"Faster, Mommy!" Jamie shouted. Rory laughed and shook her head.

"You better calm down before you hurt yourself." She said as she pulled into a parking space near the entrance of the pool.

She turned off the car and sat back in her seat, letting out a sigh as she looked around the place. She couldn't remember the last time she was here, but it seemed as if the first time was just yesterday. She still felt like a sixteen year old, still hesitant to walk inside the doors and greet people that she never really felt comfortable talking to. The only difference was she wasn't sixteen anymore.

She'd give anything to be sixteen again. She wished more than anything that she could have the chance to go back in time and completely start her teen years over again. Too many mistakes had been made. Too many opportunities had passed her by.

"Mommy let's go!"

She turned around and smiled at Jamie while she unbuckled her seat belt. If she could go back in time and change things Logan would be driving them here instead of meeting them. She shook her head and opened the door, climbing out of the car and leaving behind all the fantasies of what could have been. Some things just weren't.

She opened the door to the backseat and was met with the look of a very happy four year old.

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's Go!" Jamie kept shouting. Rory could only laugh at him as she reached forward and unbuckled his car seat. Before she knew what hit her Jamie had hoped out of the car and was running to the entrance of the pool.

"Logan James Gilmore!" Rory called after him. "You slow down young man!"

She groaned and rolled her eyes as she realized that she was too late. Jamie had already disappeared into the swim club and she still had to grab their bags from the trunk. Grabbing the bags, she closed the trunk and made her way into the pool. She stopped at the entrance, bringing a hand to her eyes in order to block out the sun and looked around, trying to find any sign of her son at all.

"Mommy!" She heard a familiar voice call out to her and turned her head in the direction it came from. She squinted slightly and looked over to a table on the other side of the pool where Jamie was sitting in the lap of a very familiar blond. She took a deep breath and made her way over to the table, unable to calm her shaking nerves as she grew closer and closer to her ex.

"Hello." Logan greeted awkwardly as Jamie jumped off of his lap.

"Hey…" Rory said back. She placed the bags on the ground by the table and stood awkwardly for a moment, not knowing what exactly she should be doing.

"Take a seat." Logan said, gesturing to the patio chair across from him.

"Oh um…yea…okay…" She said, sitting down in the chair he had pointed to and nodding her head as she refrained from making eye contact with Logan. She had never felt more awkward in her life and she had absolutely no idea what to say to him.

"Mommy, I'm going swimming!' She heard Jamie call. Her head snapped up and she saw him standing on the edge of the pool dressed only in swim trunks and his knee bandaged tightly in hopes to keep the water out of his wound.

"Not so fast!" She yelled. "You get back over here." Jamie sighed and trudged back over to his mother with his shoulders slumped in disappointment. Rory reached down and opened her bag, pulling out a bottle of sun block and squirting some on her hand. She pulled on Jamie's arm, bringing him closer to her and began to apply the lotion all over his arms and chest.

"Mommy…" Jamie whined. "I don't need sun block."

"Yes you do. Now hold still." Jamie continued to whine and wiggle and Logan just looked on at the scene with a smile on his face. Rory was so natural with him. It was a comfort level that he didn't know if he'd ever be able to reach. As nice as it was to witness part of him couldn't help but feel jealous.

"Are you going to come swimming with me?" Jamie asked. Logan snapped his head up, only to feel his hear pang at the realization that he was asking Rory and not him.

"I will later, sweetheart. Daddy and I are going to talk first."

"Oh…okay…"

"What do you want for lunch, baby?" Rory asked.

"Um…" Jamie began, swaying back and forth on his feet. "Grilled cheese!"

"Grilled cheese?" Rory asked, watching as Jamie's head bobbed up and down emphatically. "Okay. You go swimming." Jamie smiled and ran off.

"Don't run on the - " Before she could even finish the thought, Jamie had already jumped into the water and sent up the biggest splash that a four year old could. Rory sighed. " – pool deck."

"Is he always so hyper?" Logan asked, looking into the pool where Jamie had already found a friend and was splashing around with a smile on his face. Rory shrugged and looked down at the table.

"He's four…"

"Right…" Logan said. An awkward silence settled between them and Rory started to ring her fingers in her lap. She looked up at him and forced a smile, taking a deep breath and preparing to actually start a conversation.

"So…" She said. "How've you - "

"Oh my God, you will never believe the lines in the bathroom." A voice called interrupting Rory and sending her into a state of shock. She looked up to meet the sight of a blonde walking around the back of Logan's chair and brushing her hands across his shoulders as she went. Logan had looked up and smiled, the relief of having someone there to talk to besides Rory evident on his face. Rory didn't exactly feel the same.

"Uh…" She began.

"Oh!" Logan said. "Sorry, Rory this is my girlfriend, Susan. Susie this is Rory, Jamie's mother."

"It's so nice to meet you!" Susan said cheerfully, sticking her hand out for Rory to shake. Rory just stood there gaping at the hand, unable to muster up the muscle strength to shake it. Susan dropped it awkwardly but somehow managed to keep the smile on her face. Rory already had an impassioned hatred for the woman.

"All Logan's been able to talk about this morning was how excited he was to see Jamie this afternoon. I swear it was almost like he was the child."

"Yea…" Rory said, turning a cold glance on her ex. "Logan does have a tendency to act like one." Logan smirked at her and she tore her gaze away from him, fixating it on her brand new enemy.

"So which one's our Jamie?" Susan asked. Rory could feel her blood begin to boil. The woman had a lot of nerve. Jamie wasn't her anything. The last thing she was going to do was stand aside while some strange woman tried to play mother to her baby boy.

"Oh he's the brunette by the stairs." Rory said, gesturing to the pool where she had been keeping a peripheral watch on her son this entire time.

"Oh he's so adorable. He looks like Logan…" Susan said.

"Yea…that's _my _Jamie." Rory said, biting back her rage. How on earth was this girl able to tell that Jamie looked just like his father from his far away. If he had Logan's hair it would be one thing. But all the similarities to Logan Jamie had were in his face. She was just full of shit.

"So…Susan…what is it that you do for a living?" Rory asked, her voice sugary sweet.

"Actually I'm Logan's secretary. That's how we met." She answered, looking over at him and smiling. Logan smiled back and turned to glare at Rory. He knew exactly what she was thinking and he wanted to make sure she knew that it wasn't true.

"Yea we've been dancing around each other for a few years now. I finally realized what an idiot I was being."

"Yea that happens a lot doesn't it, Logan?" Rory said.

"So what about you, Rory? Do you have anyone special in your life – other than Jamie of course?" Susan asked.

"Actually, yes." Rory watched with twisted satisfaction as Logan's face fell and he immediately tried to cover it up. "I've been seeing someone for a few weeks now. His name is Mark. He's a lawyer. Jamie just loves him."

"Well I'm sure after bring deprived a father for four years Jamie would welcome any male role model." Logan said. "No matter who he is."

"Yea that sounds about right…just about anyone…" Rory said, returning a glare of her own. The man had a lot of nerve, making her believe that she was going to come here and actually have a productive conversation with him. How were they supposed to talk about Jamie in front of _her? _

The mutual looks of distaste between the two ex-lovers did not go unnoticed by the third party at the table. She shouldn't have come here. When Logan asked her to tag along she was skeptical but he kept insisting that Rory would be perfectly fine with it. Apparently he didn't know her as well as he thought he did. The woman was obviously anything but fine with the situation.

"Uh you know what….I….left my sunglasses out in the car. I'll be right back." Susan said, excusing herself from the tense atmosphere as fast as possible. She was so determined that she didn't even hear Logan calling out to her, telling her that her sunglasses were right next to him on the table.

With a sigh, Logan gave up and slouched in his chair. He really didn't want to be alone with Rory. It was the whole reason why he had asked Susan to come along with him today. After the things he said before he just couldn't face her again. It was too awkward now. Now that she knew he was more hurt than angry he didn't know what to do with himself. Now that she knew he has spent years pining after her it was hard to look her in the face without wanting to bury himself in the ground from humiliation.

"I can't believe you." Rory said through gritted teeth. Logan took the opportunity to look away from the table and up at Rory in confusion.

"What?" Logan asked in genuine confusion. Rory scoffed and looked away toward the entrance where Susan had just exited.

"Why would you bring her here? What the hell were you thinking? You didn't think that I would be upset about this?"

"Why would you be upset about it?" Logan asked, his anger too starting to flare. "It's not like you're my girlfriend or anything. This isn't a date. I don't have any commitment to you. If I want to invite my girlfriend who's been staying at my house having nothing to do for weeks to a nice lunch I can do that. She deserves to get out. She deserves to spend time with me every once and a while."

"Well what's Jamie supposed to think, Logan?" Rory said.

"I don't know, Rory. What's he supposed to think about this Mike guy?" Rory looked outraged as she shook her head at her almost-husband.

"His name is Mark and that is completely and totally different." She said.

"How is your having a boyfriend any different from my having a girlfriend?" Logan asked.

"I didn't bring my boyfriend to lunch with you. That's the difference. I didn't expose Jamie to another man along with his father and make him decide which one he wanted to get closer to!"

"What the hell are you talking about, Rory? Susie is my girlfriend. She's not my wife and even if she were, he wouldn't have to decide which one to get closer to. You're his mother. He's known you his entire life. He's not just going to up and decide that he likes her better than he likes you. That's what I have to worry about."

"If you take him to California he's going to be seeing a lot of this other woman, Logan. I'm not allowed to be upset about that?"

"No!" Logan said. "You're not allowed to be upset about that if, while Jamie's here with you, he's going to be seeing a lot of Matt - "

"Mark!"

"Whatever! The point is if Jamie can have Mark in his life he can have Susie as well."

"Well you'll excuse me for not liking the fact that another woman will be raising my son for half the year."

"Well you'll excuse me for not liking the fact that I didn't know I had a son for _five _years."

"What do you want me to say to you Logan? You know how sorry I am. I'm sitting here trying to work something out. You're the one who ruined this by bringing some other woman…"

"You're just upset that I've moved on."

"Are you seriously that egotistical?"

"Am I? The reason you're so upset about Susan is because I didn't spend the last five years sitting on my ass crying about the loss of the amazing Rory Gilmore." Logan asked. Rory narrowed her eyes and shook her head at him.

"You think everything around you doesn't it?"

"No." Logan clarified. "I don't. I just know for a fact that you do. You expect everyone who's ever known you to never forget how wonderful you were. Dean, Jess, you think that because they loved you once that they never will stop loving you, that at any one point you'll be able to just run back into one of their arms. Well guess what Rory people do get over you. I'm sure they did and I sure as hell know I did."

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh I think I do. Your hating Susan has nothing to do with Jamie. The only reason you don't like her is because she's living proof that after losing you, I didn't give up on love and spend the rest of my days pining and wishing that you would have said yes."

Rory sat across the table from him, staring into his victorious face. She was struck silent, his words having hit a cord with him that she never would have expected. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized he was right. She was upset that he hadn't spent his years wishing and hoping that she had said yes – not because she thought so highly of herself. That wasn't the case at all. It was due simply to the fact that she had.

She had spent the last five years wishing and hoping that she has said yes.

"Fuck you, Logan." She said, standing up and grabbing her purse from the table.

"Where are you going?" Logan asked icily as Rory gathered her and Jamie's things.

"We're leaving. I'm not going to sit here and force myself to be sociable with you when the mere sight of you makes me want to run into the bathroom and vomit."

"You're not leaving! I promised Jamie he would spend the afternoon with me and you're not taking him away! He's my son too." Rory dropped Jamie's pool bag on the ground and put her hands in the air as a form of surrender.

"Fine then." She said. "Have him home by six."

"I don't know where you live!" Logan called after her as she began to walk away. She turned around, walking backwards and shrugged her shoulders.

"Why don't you call my mother? You two seem to be great buddies these days."

Logan watched in stunned silence as Rory walked across the pool deck, making a stop at the stairs into the pool where Jamie has climbed up to see what was going on. She smoothed back his hair and planted a kiss on his forehead before Jamie turned around to look at Logan. He smiled at his son and Jamie turned back to his mother and gave her a nod before jumping back in the water.

Rory gave one last look in Logan's direction and their eyes met. Both of the faces stayed stiff and emotionless for a moment and then Rory broke the contact, turning around and disappearing out of the entrance.

"Well that went well…" The voice of Susan said sarcastically as she sat down, Logan jumped having not noticed her entrance and relaxed instantly, murmuring a quiet agreement and opening his menu.

* * *

"Do you think I'm being unreasonable?" There was a stunned silence on the other side of the phone due to the fact that not even a hello had been uttered to begin the conversation.

"I – " Rory cut her prospective boyfriend off, not bothering to give him any background information as to what they were talking about. She didn't really care if he did. She just needed to vent and with the absence of her mother in her life right now, she had to turn to alternative support methods.

"I mean….What does he expect from me? For me to just welcome him into my life and be perfectly fine with the fact that he's going to take my baby and move across the country with him and I won't see him for months at a time…"

"I don't think - "

"God…I…" Rory paused as her voice cracked and tears began to form in her eyes. "For five years its been me and Jamie. I was pregnant by myself. I raised him by myself. He's been what's gotten me out of bed every morning. How am I supposed to live without him there every day. How am I supposed to sleep at night knowing that someone else tucked him into bed at night and someone else is going to be making him breakfast in the morning?"

"I don't know - "

"I know I'm being selfish. I know I am. I'm not stupid. But it's just not fair! Logan doesn't know him like I do. Logan hasn't lived with him every day for five years like I have. He's gaining something, not getting something ripped away from him."

"Yea but it'll be good for Jamie to have - "

"I mean….if he lived in New York….or even Hartford! I come down here all the time anyway… It wouldn't matter…it would be okay because I'd still be able to see my baby… I'm not going to win this case. I know I'm not. I'm up against Logan Huntzberger."

"Actually…" Mark said. "He dropped the case."

"What!?!" Rory screeched, almost steering her car off the road. "What are you talking about?" Mark sighed.

"An old friend from McCrae's law firm called me up this morning and told me that Huntzberger called last night and told him to drop the case. He knew we were involved and thought I'd be interested to know. I assumed he was going to tell you at lunch."

"I…." Rory stared out the window open mouthed, trying in vain to process what she had just been told. "I…have to go…"

"Wait…Rory…" She didn't hear his pleas for her to stay on the line and in a robotic motion slammed the phone shut and dropped it into the passenger seat next to her.

* * *

Hours had passed by since she had heard the news and Rory still couldn't process what was going on. Mere minutes after she had hung up with Mark her lawyer had called her confirmed everything. Logan had called and dropped the case.

She just could not wrap her head around the news. He had seemed so determined and sure that he would win. Why would he give up like this? Did he not want Jamie anymore? Ironically, that thought pissed her off more than him trying to take him away from her. Yet, she knew it wasn't the case. This afternoon Logan had wanted nothing more than to spend the day with Jamie. Why would he give up? Did it have something to do with her?

After their argument earlier she hated to thin that what he had done was just so….Logan. He was always so self-sacrificing. He was always willing to do anything to make her happy and now…now he was doing this? It made her want to cry and scream and throw something on the wall.

Why did he have to be so damned wonderful even after she broke his heart and trampled over the pieces?

Her thoughts were disrupted by the sound of the doorbell and when she turned her head to look at the clock, seeing that it was a quarter till eight, she knew that it was Logan returning with Jamie. He must have called her mother for the address after all.

With a nervous sigh she walked to the door and took a deep breath, opening it to a sight that made tears being to well in her eyes. Logan was standing in front of her, clutching a sleeping Jamie tightly as the boy rested his head on his shoulder and griped his arms around his neck. Logan was holding on to a string full of balloons and a stuffed lion and on the ground next to him was the car seat that Rory had unceremoniously dropped next to his car after her abrupt departure from the country club earlier that day.

After standing in front of each other for what seemed like hours not saying a word Logan shifted Jamie in his arms, hiking him up so that he could get a better grip on the child. Jamie stirred slightly and buried his face even further into Logan's neck.

"He fell asleep on the way here." Logan explained. Rory nodded and stepped aside gesturing for Logan to step inside. Seeing that he was struggling she took the balloons and the lion and stepped outside quickly to grab the car seat before closing the door behind them.

"It looks like he had a pretty big day." Rory commented softly, not wanting to wake Jamie up.

"Yea…after the pool we went to the zoo and then we had dinner at Applebee's…" Rory looked up and noticed the logo printed on the front of each of the balloons and nodded in understanding.

"I'll take him to bed real quick…"

"I can…" Logan said trailing off as to not upset her. It was her house after all. She probably didn't want him traipsing about it as if he belonged there.

"Uh…yea…ok…it's just this way…" Rory said, surprising him and then leading him down the hall to Jamie's room.

In silence the two parents tucked their son into bed and awkwardly tried to avoid staring at one another as they did so. Once they had Jamie settled in for the night they left the room, returning to the living room where Rory gestured to the couch.

"Sit." She said. Logan did as was asked and Rory followed, sitting right next to him and avoiding his gaze at all costs. An awkward silence fell between them which was broken at the exact same time by both of them.

"I'm sorry." Was the mutual thought. The both turned their heads toward each other and smiled slightly.

"What I said today was uncalled for. I was being a jerk. You have every right to worry about another woman in Jamie's life. You're his mother. I understand."

"Thank you." Rory said nodding softly ad biting her lip. "My lawyer called me today." Logan turned away. "He said that you dropped the custody case."

"Yea…I did." Logan confirmed with a nod. Another brief silence fell between them as Rory gained the courage to ask her next question.

"Why?" She assed. Logan turned toward her and he could see the hope in her eyes – the hope that he would say that he did it all for her, that he just could not bare to hurt her in such a way. But he couldn't.

"I just…I realized that it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair for me to take Jamie away from everything he's ever known like that."

"Right…We….We have to do what's best for Jamie." Rory said, trying and failing to hide her disappointment that she hadn't even slightly factored into his decision.

"For Jamie." Logan repeated. "I still want to be a part of his life."

"You will be." Rory confirmed. Logan looked into her eyes and smiled at her, causing her to smile back. They stayed like that for a while in silence, creating a silent truce between them. Logan was the one who broke the moment as he looked down at his watch and stood up, Rory following his movements.

"I should get going." He said.

"Right…"

"I have a meeting with some guys from Hearst tomorrow. I'm trying to get a merger in the works so I can get home and get back to work." Rory forced a smile.

"Of course." She said as she walked him to the door and held it open for him. He stepped out and paused a moment at the door. "Good luck."

"Thanks." He said before looking to his feet. "Goodbye Rory." He said as he turned on his heel and headed toward his car. Rory watched him go for a moment and then closed the door. As soon as it was shut she collapsed against the frame and rubbed her forehead, trying to push this feeling – this thought out of her head.

She was falling in love with Logan Huntzberger all over again.

**TBC…**

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Thanks guys! Don't forget to review. 


	9. Old Habits

* * *

Yay! I updated. Thanks so much again for the patience and the understanding. I tried to get this up as fast as I could for you guys. I hope you like it. I know you're busting at the seems to get Rory and Logan back together and this chapter is showing some slow progress in that direction so I hope you like it. Anyway, thanks again. Don't forget to review!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Nine**

**Old Habits**

He had been standing there for only a minute and already Logan knew that something was wrong. The thought didn't surprise him really, after all he hadn't stepped foot in this office for five years. Looking around, he tried to see if perhaps the walls had been painted, or the cubicles moved. But everything was exactly the same as he remembered it. It was something he couldn't put his finger on. Something was just….off.

Ever since he was a child there was a specific feel that came with his entrance into this floor. It was a compressing feeling, a feeling as if he was being watched constantly, scrutinized. In his mind he had always thought of this place as….stressful. Whenever someone mentioned the word stressful he always pictured himself walking through the cubicles on this floor but for some reason…. It wasn't stressful anymore.

Something was off.

He couldn't put his finger on it.

"Mr. Huntzberger?" A voice called, breaking him out of his reverie. He heard her but didn't turn his head to see the figure of an elderly old lady who had worked with his father for as long as he could remember. He knew it was her but he was too busy trying to figure out what was wrong with this place.

"Logan?" She called, softly this time, motherly almost. She placed a hand on the shoulder of the man she had watched grow from the age of two and he finally turned to face her, offering a solemn smile which she mirrored instantly.

"It's open, dear, you can walk on in." Logan moved his gaze to the door in which she was referring and it hit him right in the face. He knew what was wrong, He knew why something felt so off.

His father was dead.

Something gripped at his heart at the sudden realization of that fact. It had been weeks since Mitchum's death. He had gone to the funeral, seen the casket lowered into the ground but for some reason, it never felt real to him. Not until just now.

He had always had this tiny thought in the back of his head, this voice telling him that Mitchum wasn't dead….He was just at work. He was always at work. Being in his childhood home without him didn't feel strange at all. He could count the number of times his father had eaten dinner with his family on a day other than a holiday on one hand. But this…coming here and not seeing his father here….It truly made him realize.

His father was dead.

He swallowed, his throat feeling dry and scratchy as the saliva forced itself down his esophagus. He nodded and gave an inaudible thanks to the woman before slipping out of her hold and walking up to the door, He paused, placing his hand on the door handle and closed his eyes. If things went to plan today, he would never touch this handle again. As he opened the door, he was rushed with memories of stepping into this office time and time again as a teenager. He could see the ghost of his father sitting at his desk, talking on the phone, and signing papers as he waved Logan in.

He had to close his eyes and shake his head to force the images away. It was almost like torture. Strings were pulling his heart in every which way, part of him being grateful that for once in his life he was walking into this office and not going to get screamed at and the other wishing more than anything that his father would be able to tell him how much of a failure he was right this second.

It was funny. Being called an idiot by Mitchum Huntzberger was almost like an 'I love you.'.

He made his way to the desk, brushing his hands over the chair that has so often been his own. He took a moment to contemplate what exactly he was doing before he sat in the leather cushioned chair that has seated his father for years and years. It was his now. Everything in this office was his now.

Though it would all be Hearst's by the end of the day.

With a sigh he reached out to play with a desk ornament of four silver balls that had been on his father's desk forever. He pulled a ball back, letting it go and watching it crash against another, sending the ball on the farthest side flying up. The two balls alternated moving in a pendulum like motion and Logan found himself transfixed. As a child he had always played with that thing, watching the balls sway back and forth instead of listening to his father's lectures. He had come to associate this office with that very ornament. When his feet kicked an empty printer box sitting next to the trashcan on the floor, he picked it up and placed the ornament inside.

He was keeping that.

Sitting back in the chair he looked around his father's desk, his eyes landing on a Huntzberger family portrait sitting on his desk. It was taken when he was eighteen years old, and it featured all his aunts, uncles, and cousins, most of which had all had children by now. When his eyes landed upon the little cluster that consisted of his mother, father, sister, and himself, he felt a pain that he didn't think he could ever quite articulate.

His head had been burnt by what looked like the tip of a cigar, warping the paper around him and taking part of his sister's face along with it. He took the picture out of the frame and dismally stuck his pinky through the hole that the burn had created. With a strained laugh threw the picture down on the desk and grabbed a black sharpie, writing in bold letters across the top.

_The Noble and Most Ancient House of Huntzberger _

That feeling was finally there, the one he had been wondering about since the moment he walked into the door. Everything felt right again. That uncomfortable compression built up around his heart. Even in death, his father had succeeded in making him like a complete and total failure, a disgrace to the name Huntzberger. He was too angry to yell and too heartbroken to cry. And he decided in a fit of rage that he was going to keep that picture.

He would forever have a reminder of the reason why left without so much as a goodbye.

* * *

"No! Don't go!"

Rory's knees almost buckled from the weight of the little boy that crashed into her. She looked down to see a clearly distraught Jamie clinging to her leg as if it were his only lifeline. She pried his arms off of her and knelt down to his level, forcing her little boy to look at her and seeing the tears that were making streak marks down his face. She turned a quick apologetic glance in Mark's direction and he smiled reassuringly at her.

"Jamie, sweetheart. I thought we were over this." Jamie had gone through his separation anxiety phase just a while ago. He would scream bloody murder every time Rory would leave him with someone else for the night. Even her mother wasn't a suitable babysitter in his eyes. He'd been doing so well lately, only getting upset when she left for business trips where she would be gone days at a time.

"Mommy's just going to be gone for a few hours. I'll even come in your room and wake you up when I get home so I can read you a story, all right?"

"No I don't want you to go!"

"Hey, buddy." Mark said, getting down on the floor next to his girlfriend and attempting to help calm the little boy. Jamie only burrowed himself further in his mother's arms. "How about this. If you let me and Mommy go out by ourselves tonight we'll all go out sometime soon. How about we go to the zoo? Does that sound like fun."

"No! I went to the zoo with my Daddy!" At Mark's disappointed look Rory shot him a smile.

"But you can go to the zoo with Mark and me too can't you, baby? I know you love the zoo."

"I don't want to go with him! I want to go with you and Daddy! And I don't want to stay with Lisa I want to stay with Daddy!" Rory sent another apologetic look at Lisa, an intern at the paper who she'd hired to watch Jamie for some extra cash. She brushed the apology off, knowing that Jamie didn't mean any harm by that statement.

"Daddy's working today, Jamie, remember you called him before and you had to leave a message? He's talking to some very important people and he can't leave."

"Why not?!?" Jamie screamed, now going through a complete temper tantrum.

"Logan James Gilmore you stop that yelling right this second. Daddy can't watch you tonight and Mark and I are going out. You are staying here with Lisa and that's final. Now I don't want to hear another peep out of you. Now go to your room until you've calmed down." Rory said firmly. Jamie tore himself from his arms and ran toward his bedroom, grabbing the lion that Logan had bought him.

"Come on Marvin. We don't need Mommy no more." Jamie said to his lion as he slammed the door to his room. Rory stood up and sighed, rubbing the tension from her eyelids and praying that she wouldn't get a headache.

"I'm sorry, Lisa." She said. "If he's too much trouble tonight just tell me and I'll pay you extra."

"Oh!" Lisa exclaimed. "No! Rory, you don't have to do that. I'll be fine. You guys just go. Have fun. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you so much. At least let me bring you home some cake or something…" Lisa nodded.

"Now that I would not object to."

* * *

Logan stumbled into the kitchen around seven o'clock, looking worse for the wear and in dire need of a nap. They hadn't even settled anything today and his dreams of finally being able to go home were once and for all squashed. Though, he allowed himself a smile at the thought, remembering that the longer he stayed here the longer he would be able to spend time with his little boy.

"Oga!" Another smiled graced his lips as he was reminded of the other little ball of energy that he would be able to get to know better the longer he stayed here. He bent down and scooped his niece up into his arms, settling her on his lap where she immediately began playing with his tie.

"Hey there, Miss Katie, how are you? Were you walkin'?" The little baby started babbling in incoherent baby talk and Logan just nodded his head along with her, pretending that he knew exactly what she was saying. It wasn't until Honor ran into the kitchen that her conversation stopped and she let out an excited cry of "Ma!"

"Oh thank God!" Honor said, rushing over to her brother and grabbing her daughter from his laps. Logan just smiled at her and willingly gave the baby over to her mother.

"She just started walking…" Honor explained.

"Yea I saw. That's great." Logan said.

"Yea…ok…sure…it's great. It's great when she's running away from you at every opportunity and you think that she's gotten lost in this huge excuse for a home. It would have taken me days to find her if it weren't for you being in here."

"Ma!"

"Yes Mommy found you." Honor said, kissing the little girl on the forehead. "What's that?" She jerked her head in the direction of the box on the table and Logan jumped into attention, finally realizing that she was talking to him.

"Oh! It's uh…just a box of crap from Mitchum's office." He started pulling out various plaques, pictures, and decorations that he had decided to put in the box along with the charred picture and the desk ornament he had taken before.

"Oh…" Honor said. "Well I'm sure if he were here, _Mitchum _would appreciate that."

"Yep…"

"What's going on, Logan?" Honor asked as she hiked Katie up on her hip a little higher so that she wouldn't fall.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You haven't called Dad Mitchum since you got home and suddenly here you are acting all sullen and resentful again. What happened?"

Logan felt his chest constrict as the image of his charred face on the family portrait appeared once again in his mind. He pushed it out, not wanting to dwell on it any longer. Really he shouldn't have been this hurt about it. Part of him was expecting to find some kind of evidence to the fact that his father continued to hate him over the years he had been away.

"Nothing." Logan lied. "Old habits."

"Okay…" Honor said, not believing his story for a moment but deciding not to push her little brother's buttons.

"Right well….I'm going to go take a shower."

Logan stood up and walked over to Honor, pressing a kiss on Katie's blonde hair before making his way up stairs. He slipped his phone out of his pocket and opened his voice mail, which he was sure was full of messages. At the sound of the first message his heart soared, all thoughts of his father completely fled his mind.

"_Hi Daddy! This is Jamie! Mommy told me to call you acause I felled asleep last night in the car. She says that I should call and say thank you acause you tooked me so many places and you got me Marvin. That's what I named my lion, Daddy. He just looked like a Marvin to me." _

Logan chuckled and allowed a grin a mile wide to spread over his face.

"_So that's all I wanted to say. Can I see you again soon, Daddy? I had lots of fun. You can call me back later, okay? Bye Daddy!" _

Logan stopped the rest of the messages from playing an instantly dialed the number to Rory's house, wanting nothing more than to talk to his son before he went to sleep tonight. He waited until someone picked up and was completely taken off guard when another woman's voice sounded on the other line.

"_Hello?" _Logan paused for a moment before regaining his composure.

"Hi…." He said hesitantly. "Is Rory there?"

"_Uh no actually she's on a date, can I leave a message?" _A date, Logan thought, his chest tightening for just a brief second. She must be out with that Mike guy.

"Uh no….actually… can I just have a word with Jamie please?" There was a silence on the other side of the phone during which he was sure the babysitter was trying to contemplate why he wanted to speak to a four-year-old boy.

"_I'm sorry, Jamie's just fallen asleep." _She said. _"Can I ask who's calling?" _

"No. No. That's okay. I'll just…go. Thanks anyway."

"_You're welcome…" _

Logan hung up on the confused girl and continued his way up to the bathroom. Nothing about this day was going quite as he had planned. He didn't want to dwell on the rejection that he felt in his father's office or the spark of jealousy that he felt when he realized Rory was on a date with her new boyfriend. These were both feelings that he was supposed to be over ages ago.

But if that was the case why did they hurt so much now?

"Hey you!" a cheerful voice called as he turned the corner. He looked up and smiled at the sight of his girlfriend as she walked toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey yourself." He said, leaning down to kiss her briefly. When his eyes opened and he broke away he decided not to care about the disappointment he felt when it wasn't Rory face beaming up at him at that moment.

"How did your meeting go?" She asked. Logan sighed.

"It's okay. I'm not going to be leaving anytime soon though." Susie looked a little crestfallen and Logan immediately felt guilty. He knew how badly she missed San Francisco. "You don't have to stay…"

"No. Logan I want to." Susie reassured and the subject was dropped. "Where were you heading?"

"Oh…I was just about to go take a shower." Susan smiled seductively and started to gently push him in the direction of the bathroom.

"Really?" She asked. Logan smiled at her played along, nodding his head in the affirmative. "That's funny…I was just on my way to the shower too."

* * *

"I'm really sorry about Jamie tonight."

"Rory. It's okay." Mark said for what must have been the hundredth time that evening. He reached across the tablecloth and placed his hand over hers, squeezing it and sending her a smile. She smiled back.

"I just feel horrible…"

"I understand. I get how kids can be. My nephew was a little monster in his day. Jamie is an angel compared to him. It was just a little temper tantrum."

"You have a nephew?" Rory asked. Mark smiled and nodded.

"Yea and two nieces. He's fifteen now and the girls are ten and eight."

"That's nice." Rory said with a smile.

"What about you any nieces or nephews?"

"Uh no, not yet anyway. My little sister is only about nine right now so…. The only time I ever really thought of being an aunt was at Honor and Josh's wedding…" Rory trailed off, her eyes widening at the thought of what she had just said.

Why would say something like that on a date with another man? Why would she even say that at all? Since when did she think about being an aunt to Logan's nieces and nephews? The thought had briefly crossed her mind at the wedding, of course that was before she had the encounter with her bridesmaids and that was purely a what-if day-dreamy kind of thought. It wasn't anything she seriously thought about.

So why was she thinking of being married to Logan and having Honor as a sister-in-law now?

"Josh and Honor?" Mark asked.

"Oh…They're just some…really good old friends of mine. Before we drifted apart she used to joke that her kids would call me Aunt Rory." She lied.

"Tim, my nephew, is just now going though that phase where he refuses to call me Uncle Mark. It's just Mark now. I don't know whether to be amused or depressed."

"I think I'll cry when Jamie starts to think the word Mommy is for babies. My biggest fear about him going to San Francisco with Logan is that one year he'll leave five feet tall with a high squeaky voice and come back taller than me and sounding like James Earl Jones." Mark chuckled. "I don't want to miss anything and boys…they grow over night."

"Yea they do…"

"I don't know what I'll do if Logan takes him over the summers. I keep thinking about being in school and how you would leave the people in your classes and then by the time school started up again everyone looked so different and they changed so much and I always wondered what made it happen. I don't want to wonder that about my own baby. I want to know. I want to see it."

"He probably feels the same way." Rory nodded.

"I know…It's hard….Knowing that the same pain I'm trying so hard to protect myself against I'm pushing on to Logan. I mean after all these years I still lo – I still care about him. I want him to be happy but…"

"Not at your expense." Rory laughed.

"God that sounds horrible doesn't it?" She asked. "I want him to be happy but not as long as what makes him happy hurts me." Mark shrugged.

"It sounds human to me." He said.

"I just wish he would stay here." She said. "It would be so much easier if he just took over HPG and Jamie could go back and forth form our houses weeks at a time instead of months. I'd still be able to see him all the time." Rory trailed off and started to tear at a piece of bread in her hands.

"God I'm sorry….I keep talking about my ex on our date I'm like one of those horrible dates you see on a montage in a movie or something." Mark laughed.

"No you're not. You're worried about your son. You're not still tragically in love with your ex. There's a difference." Rory chuckled and tore a her bread one more time, staring at her hands for a second to gather her emotions.

"Right….there's a difference."

* * *

With a contented sigh, Susan rolled over in the bed after waking up from what could only be called a nighttime nap. She had only been asleep for a couple hours at most and didn't have any intention of falling back asleep anytime soon.

"Logan?" She called tiredly as she realized that her boyfriend was not lying in the bed next to her. She saw him, lit dimply by a lamp in the corner of the room as he looked over a book of sorts in his lap. He looked over at the bed and smiled at her.

"Hey, sleepyhead." He said. Susan threw her legs over the side of the bed and padded over to the chair he was seated him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders from behind and sneaking a peak at what he was looking at.

"Rory gave it to me the other day." He said. "It's a photo album of Jamie….just a lot of firsts and birthdays and stuff like that." Susie smiled ad kissed him on the cheek.

"He was an adorable baby, Logan."

"Yea…" He said, gazing at a photo of a roughly twelve month old Jamie taking some steps with the help of Rory standing behind him.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She still had the bangs that he had fallen in love with the moment she cut her hair that summer. She was wearing a tight red turtle neck sweater and he was reminded about how baffled he used to be when she would dress so modestly and yet still be so sexy at the same time. She was just so beautiful…

"Just look at that smile…" Susie said. Logan face lit up as he peered at Rory's pearly whites. She looked so happy that Logan could almost feel it.

"Yea I am." He said.

"He's just the most adorable thing…" Logan was startled and he shifted his eyes down the page to land on Jamie's smile. He closed the book, somehow afraid that Susan would find out who he had been thinking about.

"Come on…" He said with a yawn. "Let's go back to bed."

**TBC…**

* * *

Thanks guys! Don't forget to review!!!! 


	10. Hamburger Castle

: D It's here! The brand new chapter of Training Wheels is finally here. And not only is it here but it's loooooong. It's the longest chapter I've ever written for any story. I figure you guys deserve it after I might you wait for so long. I hope you all enjoy. I haven't been getting as much reviews lately so please review. You will make my day. The more you review the faster I write. ; )

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gilmore Girls

**Chapter Ten**

**Hamburger Castle **

"Daddy lives in a castle, Mommy!"

Rory scoffed and turned around to look at her little boy who was sitting calmly in his car seat, staring up at the mansion before him with a look of sheer awe on his face.

Castle indeed, she thought to herself, remembering with a pang of heartbreak the first time she had seen the humble Huntzberger abode. Her heart had always broken when she thought of that night. At first it was because of the horrible memories that accompanied it; now her heart broke because of the pleasant ones.

"He sure does Jamie," Rory said. "Do you want to hear a story about the castle?" Rory was praying that the child would say yes. She wanted to stall as long as humanly possible. Seeing Logan was not something that she wanted to do lately.

"Yes!"

"Once upon a time a foreign princess visited the castle-"

"What's it called?" Jamie asked.

"Uh…..its uh…." Rory trailed off, trying to think of a name that would do justice to the wonderful people who resided in it when a nickname her mother had made up rung in her head. "…Hamburger castle."

"Does the Burger King live there?"

"Yes, Jamie, the Burger King lives there," Rory said. She looked at Jamie again and noticed that his eyes had one wide in fright.

"He scares me!"

"Well….he scares a lot of people, baby. Anyway….When the princess arrived she was so wonderfully happy to be visiting this new kingdom, excited to see all the new things and meet at all the new people. However, upon her arrival the evil King-"

"The Burger King!" Jamie interrupted.

"The _Burger King _and Queen attacked her and threw her into a lions pit with no hope of escape. But just when she thought all hope was lost a knight in shining armor jumped into the lions' pit and fought the lions off with a…um…"

"A lightsaber!"

"A lightsaber! And the knight grabbed the princess around the waist and used the force to jump high out of the lions' pit. He put her down and faced the evil Burger King and Queen but he did not give into his anger and attack them, for that would be the way to the dark side! He simply took the princess and left. The Burger King and Queen begged him to stay, for he turned out to be the Prince of Hamburger Land but he refused! He would not allow the Burger King and Queen to be mean to the princess any longer. They fled the kingdom but not before stopping for a whopper and a frozen coke and the prince and princess lived…." Rory stopped.

The prince and princess lived a life without each other for five agonizing years only to meet again and hate each other.

"Mommy…" Jamie said, waiting for her to finish the story. Growing exasperated, the little boy sighed. "You're _supposed _to say that the Prince and Princess lived happily ever after."

Rory closed her eyes and took a deep breath. How she wished to be four again – to live in a world where the prince and princess always lived happily ever after. Forcing away her sadness, she opened her eyes and looked at Jamie, giving him a sweet smile.

"Well you just said it for me, silly," Rory said. She unbuckled her seat belt and climbed out of the car, walking around to the back seat to help Jamie get out. When she opened the door Jamie had already unbuckled himself from his seat and practically jumped into his mother's arms. Rory groaned and set him down on the ground. "Aren't we excited today?"

"I wanna see Daddy!"

"I know. I know," Rory said. Jamie took off running for the front door and Rory followed slowly behind him, much to his dismay. Once she reached the door, she slowly lifted her finger to the bell, praying that by the grace of God she wouldn't have to see him. The door opened and the maid answered her prayers.

"Hello. I'm Rory Gilmore and this is-"

"Oh! Hello. This must be Jamie," the woman said squatting down to the four year old's level. "My name is Greta. Aren't you just the cutest thing!"

Jamie scrunched up his face and backed away from the woman who was wearing a smile a mile wide. "You smell funny."

Rory was aghast. "Logan James Gilmore! You apologize right this second, young man!"

Greta, the maid, simply laughed and stood up waving away Rory's displeasure with a gesture of her hand. "It's alright. I was just mopping the bathroom floors with ammonia. I probably do smell funny. Besides I know how these little ones can be. After all I had to put up with his father. I can't imagine Jamie here being much worse."

"I wouldn't know about that…" Rory said. "Um….I'm sorry I don't want to sound rude but…is Logan here?"

"Oh! Dear. How silly of me. Logan actually had to run into the office for a moment. He should be back within an hour or so. You can just leave Jamie here. He'll be just fine with us while we wait for his Daddy to get home."

"I'm sorry," Rory said. "Us?"

"Rory!"

An icy chill went up her spine as she heard the saccharine voice echo behind her. She couldn't bring herself to turn around. She couldn't bring herself to move at all. She was completely paralyzed from a mixture of shock and uncontrollable fear. She could feel that she was about to hyperventilate and the room seemed to be spinning around her. The red marble on the columns around her began to swirl before her eyes and she began to get dizzy from the sensation it was causing.

She was having a panic attack. She hadn't had a panic attack in almost seven years. With all of the stress she had gone through in her life: finding out she was pregnant, starting her new career, seeing Logan again after five years, she had never had a panic attack. No, the last time she had a panic attack was the last time she has seen the very woman who had just called her name.

"Mrs. Huntzberger," she squeaked as she turned around, trying to compose herself so that she could at least exchange a few pleasantries without giving away the fact that she was completely terrified.

"Oh please, dear, it's Shira. After all I expect we'll be seeing each other often. Now that we have little Jamie to consider," Shira said. Her stiff smile faltered for a moment as she moved her gaze to the little boy that was standing bashfully next to his mother. Rory could have sworn that for a moment she saw what could even be described as compassion in the woman's eyes. And when the look didn't seem to go away, Rory felt like she had entered an alternate dimension.

"He looks so like Logan…." Shira whispered before snapping out of her trance and plastered another wide smile on her face. "With your hair of course."

"Yeah. That's what I've always thought."

Shira looked down at the Jamie again and he returned her gaze with one of slight confusion and curiosity. "Hello Jamie," She said. "I'm your grandmother."

Jamie stood back and burrowed himself even further into the comfort of his mother's legs. He looked up at the strange woman in front of him and felt nothing but fear. No one had told him that there was going to be anyone other than his Daddy here and he most certainly did not know that he was going to be meeting another grandmother. This lady reminded him of Grandmother Emily and Grandmother Emily was one of the scariest people Jamie knew.

"Jamie, sweetheart," Rory said, running her fingers through his hair and trying to coax him away from her legs. "Your grandmother just introduced herself. What do you say?"

"Hello," Jamie whispered.

"I'm very sorry, Mrs. – uh…Shira," Rory said, "He's usually not this shy."

Shira stood up and offered Rory the smallest of smiles. "That's alright, dear. I imagine he must be quite overwhelmed with all of this. Greta," The maid snapped to attention, tearing her gaze away from the little boy and turning it toward her employer. "Will you go down in the basement and bring up that box filled with some of Logan's old toys, please? Perhaps James would like to play with them."

"Certainly, Mrs. Huntzberger." Greta said before leaving them. She passed Rory on her way out, giving her a smile and a reassuring pat on the arm. Rory immediately decided that she liked this woman and felt significantly more comfortable leaving her son in this place with the knowledge that she would be here.

"I think Logan has some old transformers and G.I. Joes down there somewhere," Shira said.

"Oh that's ni-"

"Well, Rory, it was wonderful seeing you again," Shira said as she hooked her arm through Rory's and started walking her toward of the door. Rory reluctantly followed her lead, looking back at Jamie who was starting back at her with a look of pure fear on his face. She smiled at him as Shira dragged her closer and closer to the front door.

"Uh, Shira, I…"

"We really must have lunch sometime. Just us girls."

"Oh I um - "

"Now you go on about your day and have fun. We'll take good care of Jamie."

"I - "

"Mommy!"

In an instant Jamie had run over to this mother and thrown his arms around her legs. Rory broke out of Shira's grasp and knelt down to be eye level with her little boy. After seeing the small tears of fear welling in his eyes she ran a hand over his face and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"It's okay, sweetheart," she said, "Grandma Shira will take care of you until Daddy gets home alright. He'll be here before you know it."

"I-I-I don't wa-want you to leave!"

Rory took one more look at his pitiful little face and pulled him into a hug. Jamie clung to her for dear life, silently begging her not to leave him alone with this strange woman. Her heart broke into pieces, knowing that she had to leave him. She simply didn't have the time to wait around for Logan to get home. She kept reminding herself that - despite her feelings about Shira - the woman would not let harm come to her grandson. He would be fine with her. Plus, there was always Greta.

"I know you want me to stay sweetie but I have to go to diner with Grandma Emily and Grandpa Richard. You'll be just fine."

Jamie continued to cry and held on to Rory even tighter. She had to pry his little hands off of her in order to pull him away far enough so that she could look at him again and wipe the tears from his eyes.

"Hey," she said, "Is this anyway for my brave little man to behave?"

"No," Jamie said while he shook his head and sniffed.

"That's right. You are going to be just fine. Now chin up." Rory smiled as Jamie lifted his tiny little chin in the air. "There you go. Are you okay now?"

"Yes," Jamie said.

"Good. Now come here." She gave him one more hug. "Mommy loves you so much. Now you have fun."

After one final squeeze Rory stood up and turned to her almost mother-in-law. Shira smiled and opened the door for her.

"Good bye, Rory."

It was with the slam of the door behind her that she realized she had never spent a single night without her baby.

* * *

"Hello, Rory!"

Twelve years. Twelve years she had been coming to dinner at the Gilmore household and the response to her presence had never changed. Nothing had ever changed. Every week she would walk in the front door, hand her coat to the weekly maid, and make her way into the sitting room where her Grandparents would greet her as if they hadn't seen her in months as opposed to days. The only thing that had changed over the years was the occasional absence of her mother and the new addition of Jamie, the new apple of his great-grandfather's eye.

Little Logan James Gilmore was spoiled more by Richard and Emily than any other child that had ever entered their house. Not only was he their favorite granddaughter's only child but he was the little boy that some part of Richard had always wanted. He loved his daughter more than anything, but part of him was very sad that he never had a son to pass on the Gilmore name. And who better to carry on the Gilmore name than a little boy who was half Rory Gilmore and half Logan Huntzberger?

The Gilmores' opinion regarding Logan was a strange thing; a thing that Rory had never really understood. It seemed that he was immaculate in their eyes. Nothing he could do could taint him. Even after they had learned of their sexual relationship, after he had lost millions of dollars, after he had left her broken and pregnant, they still loved the man.

That wasn't to say that the news of her pregnancy had gone over wonderfully with the Glimores. She would never forget the look on their faces when she told them the news. Never before had they looked so small to her. Emily had begun to cry and Richard had to excuse himself from the table. They didn't scream. They didn't yell. They were so frighteningly calm that Rory couldn't help but weep herself.

But they loved him.

"You look absolutely beautiful!" Emily cheered as she walked over to her granddaughter and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Grandma. You look very nice yourself."

"Where is Jamie?" Emily asked, looking behind Rory to find her little great-grandson. "Surely you didn't leave him with a sitter. You know how much we love to have him at dinner."

"Actually…" Rory began reluctantly, "Jamie is spending the night at Logan's tonight."

"Oh." Brief and succinct responses from Emily Gilmore were often not a good sign "Well, isn't that nice? Come in. Come in. Your mother, Luke, and April are joining us this evening."

"April is here?" Rory asked as her Grandmother led her into the sitting room. Emily didn't have a chance to answer before Rory was enthusiastically greeted by her grandfather. She walked over to give him a hug and sat on the couch, carefully avoiding the eyes of her mother as she did so.

Things had been a little awkward between the two of them since the day Jamie had fallen at the park. In time Rory had come to see that her mother was right but she still had not fully forgiven her for violating her trust.

"Hey, kid!" Lorelai said with a tight smile, knowing that her daughter was not at all happy with her. "Where's Jamie? Is he out on the town tonight?"

Rory looked down at her feet. "He's with Logan actually."

"Logan? Really? That's nice," Lorelai said with an encouraging nod.

Rory bit her lip and nodded her head. "Yup. It is."

"Too bad I couldn't see him though. I'm starting to miss my little grandbaby."

"He'll be with me next week."

"Rory would you like something to drink?" Emily asked pleasantly, interrupting the strained conversation between mother and daughter.

"I'll have some wine please, Grandma."

"Coming right up!" Emily said. "Richard. Rory would like some wine."

"Can do," Richard said from the drink cart. "Red or white?"

"Red please," Rory said. Less than a minute later Richard handed her a glass of red wine and sat down in the chair next to her.

"So, Rory, where is Jamie this evening?"

Rory sighed. If she had to say this one more time… "Jamie is spending the night with is father this evening."

"Oh," Richard said in surprise. "Well that is certainly a change of pace."

Rory nodded. "Logan and I decided to try and work with each other on the issue before going through with a custody battle. Hopefully it won't come to that."

"Well," Richard said before taking a sip of his drink. "That is wonderful. Custody battles are such a nasty business. No one should have to go through that."

"Hear, hear." Luke said, tipping his glass.

"So, April," Rory said, wanting desperately to change the subject, partly because she did not want to talk about Logan any longer, and partly because all the talk about Jamie was reminding her of the fact that she would not see him until tomorrow morning. "I haven't seen you in a while. How's school going?"

"School is going great," April said with a smile. Rory smiled back. Over the past five years the girl had really grown into herself. She had changed from the awkward thirteen year old to a very pretty young lady. She had learned how to manage her head of curls, bought contact lenses, learned how to wear make-up. The only thing that remained of her awkward demeanor were her slightly less then exemplary social skills.

"In fact," April continued. "I just got an acceptance letter from MIT in the mail yesterday."

"MIT?" Richard asked. "Well that is very impressive, young lady. Congratulations."

April smiled. "Thank you, Richard."

"That's amazing!" Rory agreed.

"Well, Richard, we need to celebrate. Do we have a bottle of champagne?" Emily asked.

"I'm sure I could dig one up somewhere," Richard said. "Luke, you wouldn't mind April having a glass of champagne, would you?"

"I think that would be fine, considering this is a special occasion."

"A _very _special occasion," Lorelai said, smiling at her husband and squeezing his hand. She glanced back at Rory who was flashing her a confused expression and smiled at her.

It was a matter of moment before Richard returned with a bottle of champagne and began pouring glasses for everyone. As he reached to hand his daughter a glass, Lorelai let go of Luke's hand and shook her head.

"No for me, Dad. Thanks."

"No champagne?" Richard asked, surprised.

"But Lorelai you love champagne!" Emily said.

"I do. I do," Lorelai said with a nod. "And there is nothing I would rather do than my wonderful step-daughter's acceptance into the best technical school in the country _but_ I don't think it would be very good for the baby…"

"Oh my God, you're pregnant!" Emily exclaimed. "Richard! Did you hear that? She's _pregnant_!"

"I heard her, Emily."

"Well this certainly is a night for celebration," Emily said.

"It sure is." Rory said, eyeing her mother. Lorelai was staring back at her with a timid look on her face. "Congratulations, Mom."

"Thanks, kid."

"Well I think this calls for another bottle of champagne."

* * *

It wasn't a monster.

It wasn't a monster.

It was a shadow. That is what his mommy always said. Whenever he saw a monster she would come in, turn on the light, and show him that is was just a shadow. One time he left one of his dinosaurs in front of the nightlight and it made a really really scary shadow on his wall.

That's what it always was. A shadow. There was no such thing as monsters.

It sure looked like a monster though.

For the past hour, little Jamie Gilmore had been huddled up in a ball in the bed of his brand new room at his Daddy's house. It was a really big room and a really big bed. He had never seen a bed this big in his life. Even his Mommy's bed, which he thought was the biggest bed in the world, was not as big as this one.

Everything about his Daddy's house was big. All night Jamie had found different rooms to play in. He and Daddy had played hide and seek and Daddy hadn't found him for almost ten whole minutes! He and Daddy had played all night until it was time for Jamie to go to bed. Daddy was just as mean about bedtime as Mommy was. Lisa let him stay up as long as he wanted. But Daddy wasn't a babysitter. Daddy was his Daddy.

The big window cast a big light on the wall and inside was a shadow of a monster, watching Jake from a tree. It was huge. He couldn't tear his eyes away from its shadow on the wall and every once and a while the monster would move its head, causing the little boy to clutch his lion even tighter.

"It's okay, Marvin. The monster's not gonna get us."

It wasn't a monster.

It wasn't a monster.

But as soon as the scariest sound Jamie had ever heard sounded from outside his window, he was out of bed in a flash. Marvin clutched tightly at his side, he made his way out of his bedroom as fast as his little feet could take him and burst into the long dark hallway.

He couldn't help it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the tears from falling down his cheeks. He was a big boy. The last thing that he should be doing was crying. Big boys simply did not cry. But he was scared. There was a monster, he was lost, and he missed his Mommy.

With a bite of his lip and a step of his foot he made his way down the dark hallway, summoning all his courage as he went. His Daddy's house was really scary in the dark. It was so big and there were funny pictures all over the walls that stared at him as he passed. Plus he was really scared that his new Grandma would find him.

However, he had no choice. He had to be brave. He had to find his Daddy so that he could come scare the monster away, otherwise Marvin would never be able to sleep. He needed to be brave for Marvin.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of treading down the scary hallway, Jamie found himself at the stairs that his Daddy had carried him up when it was time for him to go to bed. That was a long time ago. Jamie didn't know exactly how long is had been but it had to have been at least an hour. And an hour was a really really long time. He took the stairs slowly, careful not to fall down, and made his way into the room where there was a big TV flashing light over his Daddy and Susie.

He didn't like Susie very much. She was nice… almost too nice. She talked to him in a really squeaky voice and she liked to pinch his cheeks. Jamie hated when people pinched his cheeks. It made him feel like a baby and he wasn't a baby. He was a big boy. People should treat him like he was a big boy.

Jamie rubbed a tear out of his eye and tiptoed his way over to the couch. His daddy and Susie were watching a man on the TV wearing a suit and sitting at a desk, talking about things that Jamie didn't quite understand. His daddy had his arm around her and she was leaning against him sort of like his Grandma and Luke did when they watched TV.

"Daddy?"

Logan snapped his head toward Jamie and got up from the couch, pressing the mute button on the remote as he did.

"Jamie," He said, walking over to the boy and picking him up. "What on earth are you doing awake? It is way past your bedtime."

Jamie wrapped his arms around Logan's neck and squeezed him as tight as he possibly could.

"There's a monster outside my room!" he cried, letting loose all of his fears now that he was in the arms of his father.

"A monster?" Logan asked as he rubbed a hand up and down Jamie's back. He felt a head nod against his neck. "Well we better check this out, huh?"

Jamie nodded his head again. "It keeps wa-watching me."

"Well that's definitely not cool," Logan said. "I'll be right back, Susie. I've got some monster butt-kicking to do. Isn't that right, James?" Jamie nodded again.

"Okay, well you be careful."

"Oh I will. I have experience in this area. Come on, Jamie," Logan said as he made his way through his house and up the stairs to the guest room that he had put Jamie in.

"Now where is this monster?" Logan asked. Jamie turned his body as far as he could in his father's arms and pointed to the window. Logan followed the boy's finger and came face to face with a pair of giant yellow eyes.

"It keeps watching me!" Jamie cried.

"Oh man. You know what I think?" Logan asked as he walked over to the light switch and flipped it on. Jamie hid his eyes from the sudden onslaught of light and buried his face in Logan's neck once more.

"What?"

"I think we have a new pet. Look."

Jamie turned around and looked out the window to see a small brown owl sitting on a tree limb outside.

"It's a owl!"

"It is!" Logan said. "He just wants to be your friend."

"Whoo whoo!" Jamie said at the window.

Logan laughed. "How about we give him a name."

"Peter!"

"Peter the owl. I think that sounds good," Logan said with a nod.

"Uhu. Cause he can fly like Peter Pan."

"That is very true. Now come on. It's way past your bedtime, mister." Logan carried him back over to the bed and pulled down the covers before placing Jamie down. He crawled under the covers and hugged Marvin tightly to him. Logan tucked the covers securely around his little body and kissed him on the forehead.

"What do you say the next time you come over we go shopping for some stuff to make this room yours, huh?"

"Toys!?" Jamie asked wide-eyed.

Logan smiled. "_Some _toys. But I was thinking a nice comforter and some furniture."

"Oh…" Jamie said, suddenly bored by the idea.

"We'll go to the toy store when we're done. I promise. Now sleep tight." Logan gave him one last kiss and walked over to the door, flipping off the light.

"You didn't say goodnight to Marvin and Peter!"

Logan laughed. "Goonight, Marvin. Goodnight, Peter."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

As Logan closed the door he couldn't help but think that he could get used to that sentence.

It was strange; the places life could take you. There were several things in her life that Rory never dreamed would happen to her. She never imagined she would end up at Yale instead of Harvard. She never thought that she would end up having a baby out of wedlock at twenty-two. And she most certainly never imagined that she would end up ringing the doorbell of the Huntzberger mansion twice in less than twenty-four hours. Come to think of it she had never imagined she would meet a member of the Huntzberger family let alone fall in love with one had bear his child.

Yes, life was strange indeed.

"Hey, Ace."

Ace. God how she hated to hear that name.

"Logan," Rory said as he stepped aside to let her inside the house, "I'm glad you actually decided to grace me with your presence this time."

"I'm sorry about that, Rory. I had an emergency. But my Mom and Greta were here to watch him."

Rory rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Another thing that was strange was the fact that Logan had somehow turned from lazy party boy to man who went to the office instead of seeing his son.

"Great. One woman who I can't stand and another I have never met before were there to take care of my child. That makes me feel so much better."

"Hey," Logan said, getting defensive. "You may not like her and I don't blame you but she is my mother. Jamie's grandmother. She wouldn't let any harm come to him. Besides, I was home ten minutes after you left."

"Whatever," Rory said. "Where's Jamie?"

"He's getting dressed," Logan said harshly. "You know you didn't _have _to leave him here with them you know. You could have stayed another ten minutes if the idea of leaving him with my oh-so-evil mother was so horrible to you."

"I had a dinner to go to, Logan. I was already late as it was!"

"Then another ten minutes wouldn't have hurt much."

"I shouldn't have had to wait another ten minutes!" Rory exclaimed. "You said that you were going to be here when I dropped Jamie off and you weren't! How am I supposed to trust you?"

Logan shook his head and looked in the other direction as Rory continued to rant about how horrible a father he was. He had to remind himself that he had once been in love with his woman, that she was once the most amazing woman he had ever known. She had changed dramatically in the past five years. Or _he_ had changed.

Perhaps _they_ had changed.

"I just can't _believe_ that you would do that knowing how I feel about your mother and knowing how uncomfortable I am leaving Jamie places without me! You're completely inconsiderate of other people's feelings!"

"Is this what we've come to, Rory?"

"I mean I - " Rory paused, confused. "What?"

Logan shook his head again. "Is this what we've come to? Screaming at each other over every tiny offense? I mean I always thought… Never mind."

"You always thought what?" Rory asked, her voice dropping the defensive tone.

"Nothing forget I even brought it up. Jamie should be down any second. I'll go check on him." Logan turned and started to make his way to the staircase when Rory reached out and grabbed his arm.

"You always thought _what, _Logan?" She asked forcefully.

There was a third shake of his head. "I just always thought, in the back of my mind that if we ever saw each other again…" He trailed off.

"What!?"

"It was just wishful thinking I guess. Don't worry about it."

"Tell me what you are trying to say, Logan."

"I just thought we would…" he stopped, biting is lip to keep himself from saying the words that threatened to fall off his tongue. He had always thought that they would meet again and have another chance. It was the only thing that got him out of bed in the morning that he was first trying to get over her. That hypothetical 'what if'.

"I just thought we would be friends."

"We are friends," Rory said, her voice sounding smaller and smaller with every word. They were friends. Where did he get off saying that they weren't friends? They had a child together. They had a history. They loved each other once upon a time. She still…

They had to be friends.

"You really think this constitutes friends?" Logan asked.

"Well…"

"How many fights have we gotten in the past week? Because I've lost count."

"So we fight. Friends fight." Rory said, almost as if she pleading with him to agree.

"All we do is fight Rory. Would we even stand each other if Jamie wasn't in the picture?"

"We…" Rory bit her lip. If she hadn't spent weeks trying to get a hold of him due to her pregnancy only to get her heart broken all over again she probably wouldn't be acting so horribly to him. All in all they would probably fight less if Jamie wasn't in the picture. She wouldn't be as hurt if Jamie wasn't in the picture. "We always fight, Logan. That's what we do. All we did when we were together was fight!"

"Oh please. That's not true."

"Oh it's not?" Rory challenged. "I don't want commitment. I do. So I can't do this anymore. I'll be your boyfriend even though there is a line of girls outside my dorm room and my family hates you and I may treat you like crap after a dinner with them. Oh, that's okay Logan no biggie. Don't do that internship my father is offering you. But I want to! Your father is an asshole. I told you not to do the internship! Don't you dare drop out of Yale. I want to drop out of Yale. I give you one month. You're wrong! I'm jealous of your old boyfriend. Jess is just a friend and you were an asshole to him. Don't blame me for your dropping out of school. I never blamed you. I'm angry. I'm leaving and I'm not going to talk to you again for weeks and then break up with you through my sister and then stalk you when you get back to Yale. Go away. No. Go away. No. Go away. I love you! I love you!? Seriously!? Give me another chance your mother said so. Fine. You cheated on me!? We were one a break!! No _you _were on a break. I'm moving out. Don't move out! Fine. Stop being a bitch to me. It hurts my _feelings_. Insert period of time where you were incapacitated/halfway across the world and we were unable to have a confrontation. Bobby's not a boy. Bobby's just my college. Why didn't you tell me you were talking to Marty again? Because it's weird. It's weird? I understand. Let me take this opportunity to expose your secret and ruin your new friendship with Lucy. I lost millions of dollars and I'm not going to do anything about it instead I'm going to blow you off to go to Vegas with Colin and Finn. Your father is right. You are acting like an asshole. How dare you agree with my father!? I'm leaving! I'm going to find you at your friend's wedding and wait outside until I guilt you into talking to me. Will you ma – marry me?"

Suddenly the room went silent. Logan looked down at his feet and Rory closed her eyes, mentally beating herself for bringing up the forbidden subject. Logan let out a breath of a laugh.

"You're right. I guess we did fight a lot," he said in almost a whisper.

"There were some good times too," Rory said painfully. Logan looked up and smiled at her.

"Yeah, there were weren't there?"

Rory nodded. "There was um… The Life and Death Brigade jump."

Logan smiled. "We weren't together then."

"Right…" Rory remembered. "There was that time we had sex on that boat we stole."

Logan laughed. "It's a good thing we got our clothes on before the coast guard caught us otherwise your grandparents probably would have run after me with a shovel."

"They already hated you with a passion after I told their minister. I can't imagine what they would have done if they had found out that I was charged with Grand Theft Boating _and_ fornication."

"There was out first trip to the Vineyard," Logan remembered with a smile. "When we had sex on _my _boat."

"That was much better than the second trip to the Vineyard," Rory said with a laugh.

Logan laughed as well. For the first time since his death he remembered his father with a smile instead of a pang of sadness. "Mitchum certainly had a way of ruining things didn't he?"

"There was your going away party and my horrible British accent."

"Ah yes, that was a turn on," Logan said. "My first visit home from London. Sex on the roof."

"We sure had a lot of sex didn't we?" Rory said, looking up at him with a smile.

"Well Jamie had to get here somehow."

Rory smiled, a vision of her perfect little boy filling her mind. "It was the day we went to Stars Hollow. The Hay Bale maze."

"What?"

"Jamie's conception. When my Mom left and you sat down on my bed and tried to get me to have sex with you but I didn't want to because of my first time with Dean."

"Right you kept making up noises and wanting to shut the blinds."

"You told me you wanted to give me a good memory in my bed," Rory said. "You gave me the best memory I could ever imagine."

"Yeah?"

"You gave me Jamie that day."

"I guess we did something right, huh?" Logan said, reaching forward slightly and grabbing Rory's fingers in the tightest of grips. Rory looked down at their entwined hands and unconsciously took a step closer to him. Their faces were mere inches apart. She could feel his breath on her face. It smelt exactly the same. Peppermint Altoids.

"Guess so," she whispered, her face inching closer and closer to his as it had so many times in the memories that would not stop flying through her head. She wanted to know if he still tasted the same, of mint and scotch with the occasional touch of coffee. She loved it when he tasted like coffee. Her two vices were satisfied in one kiss.

She was so close to finding out. Her eyes closed. Her heart stopped and her breath hitched as he placed a hand on her face like he had so many times before. His hands felt exactly the same. Cold and rough. Just like always. Just how she liked them.

"Mommy!!"

With a gasp, Rory broke out of her trance and jumped away from Logan. They looked at each other awkwardly, suddenly remembering that they hated each other now and that they both were in relationships with other people. The only thing that kept them in contact with one another was Jamie.

"My baby!" Rory answered back as Jamie ran up to her and jumped into her arms. Rory picked him up and kissed his little head. "I missed you so so much! How was your first sleepover?"

"It was really really fun! Daddy and I played all night and then I went to bed and there was a monster. But it turned out to be an owl."

"An owl?" Rory asked enthusiastically. "Oh boy."

"Uhu. I named him Peter."

"Peter?"

"Uhu. Acause he can fly."

"That's a very nice name," Rory said before putting him down. "Now say goodbye to Daddy. It's time to go home."

Jamie turned around to find Logan squatting on the floor in front of him. He walked into Logan's arms and Logan gave him a tight hug, kissing him on the head.

"Bye, Daddy."

"Bye, Kiddo. You be good for your Mommy now alright?"

"I will," Jamie promised. Logan let him go and he grabbed a hold of Rory's hand as she led him out the door.

"Bye, Logan," Rory said, offering him a small awkward smile.

"Goodbye, Rory."

As he watched them make their way down the driveway to Rory's car he couldn't help but think of the one time when those two words were even more painful than they are now.

Rory Gilmore seemed to like making a habit of walking away from him.

**TBC…**

* * *

Well there you have it folks. Finally the sexual tension is getting the better of them. Please, please take the time to review. The more feedback I get the more excited I become about writing the next chapter so your reviews really do help the creative juices a lot. Thanks!


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